


Is this always and forever?

by Alwaysfangirlingish



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family Angst, Family Drama, Family Reunions, Fanfiction, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson, My First Fanfic, Parent Klaus Mikaelson, Past Relationship(s), Platonic Relationships, Protective Elijah Mikaelson, Protective Klaus Mikaelson, Reencounter, Relationship(s), Reunions, Unhealthy Relationships, Vampire Bites, Vampire Family, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26915812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alwaysfangirlingish/pseuds/Alwaysfangirlingish
Summary: When Mikael appeared in 1919 to hunt down his children, burning even the smallest corner of New Orleans, and they were all forced to ran away. The Mikaelsons, being who they are, could not risk their father following them, so they decided to flee without looking back, leaving a small part of the family to their fate.Marcellus and Nikole, who had been treated as members of the Mikaelson family, were abandoned in that theatre; however, Niklaus did not leave without first leaving a small gift for the girl he also called “the love of his life” once. To be more specific: A spell that would not let her return to the city, nor be near the original family.After almost a century under that curse after that devastating night, Nikole finally breaks it and returns, willing to face those she once called family, especially the man who once loved more than her own life.
Relationships: Aurora de Martel/Klaus Mikaelson, Hayley Marshall/Elijah Mikaelson, Hayley Marshall/Klaus Mikaelson, Jackson Kenner/Hayley Marshall, Klaus Mikaelson/Camille O'Connell, Klaus Mikaelson/Original Character(s), Klaus Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 30





	1. “Welcome back to New Orleans...”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, readers!💕✨
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary ✨💕 If you enjoy this, please consider share (so more people can read it), leave kudos and write comments!💕✨  
> Thank you for reading!!! ✨💕

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers!💕✨
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary ✨💕 If you enjoy this, please consider share so more people can read it and write a comment!💕✨  
> Thank you for reading!!! ✨💕

A curious prophecy about the end of the Original family spread around the world, like many other rumours that surrounded this family. As soon as it reached my ears, I packed my bags and got ready to head back, telling myself that I was only breaking this curse to see if my sire line was safe, but deep down I knew that was just an excuse.

When I looked at that sign of _“Welcome to New Orleans"_ my breath stopped for a few seconds as millions of doubts came to me, but it was not the moment to look back. I had already made my decision and could only follow the plan.

I closed my eyes, breathing to calm the butterflies in my stomach. New Orleans was different, but still had that special thing that screamed I was home, finally. I felt my eyes get wet at that feeling that I thought I would never experience again, but I shook my head to not to cry.

I fixed my black leather jacket and walked into the bar in front of me, hoping to find him in there as planned. 

It was an excellent night to business, from what I could see: Loud music, people dancing and drinking like it was their last day… I admit I was expecting something calmer for a Wednesday night.

I sat at the bar, looking for him among the people, and ordered some water while I waited for him to show up.

 **“¿K?”** He smiled at me and hugged me tight, while I giggled hugging him back while a few tears rolled down my cheek. **“I missed you so much, little sister,”** He said stroking my hair before sitting next to me, wiping my tears with his thumb.

 **“I missed you too, big brother,”** I responded the joke, watching him as he asks for a bottle of Champagne **“It’s been a long time… But now I’m here,”** I looked around me **“I’m home.”**

 **“So, I see that those witches helped you …”** He said, pointing at me, **“I could have helped you with some witches in the French Quarter a while ago… Why now? Why not before?”** He asked me, taking a somewhat defensive stance.

 **"Of course they helped me, they are my friends …”** I started to say, looking into his eyes **“And I didn’t want any witch in New Orleans to help me, because the Mikaelsons could have found out that I was trying to return …”** I crossed my arms, staring at an inaccurate point in the bar. “Also, if I asked my friends to break the spell earlier, they would have; However, before there was no threat of mass death from vampires, so … “

 **"So you’re telling me that the only reason you just go back is to see if the Mikaelsons are okay?”** He asked, crossing his arm with a mocking smile, **“Didn’t you come back to see me? Not a bit?“** That comment made me laugh a little, and I hit him lightly on the arm.

 **“I didn’t come for all of them, just for one of them. And of course, I also came to see you, I just didn’t feel ready before… ”** I said looking down, feeling ashamed.

 ** _“Welcome back to New Orleans,”_** Marcellus said, grabbing the bottle and pouring two cups, offering me one **“Let’s celebrate, K!”**

We spend some time together just laughing and catching up about everything that happened. He also took a little time to introduced me to some of his vampire friends, the one I liked the most was Josh, he seemed a friendly person.

 **“So you are siblings?”** The youngest vampire finally asked after he was trying to decipher my relation with Cellus. I nodded, pressing one of Marcellus’s cheeks.

 **“Not by blood, obviously, because I’m prettier than him, but does that matter? He’s always been my brother, ”** I said, laughing as Cellus wanted to get rid of my grip on his cheeks.

The three of us were drinking for a while, and telling stories about when Marcel, as everyone called him, and I lived in here, happily and together, before the events of that horrible night tore us apart.

 **“Yeah, whatever. I know the truth, boys,”** I said pointing a finger on Marcel “And the truth, Josh, is that Cellus kissed the ass of that horse for three dollars!” We all laughed, before I got up, placing a hand on my brother’s shoulder and smiling at Josh, **“Well, it’s been a pleasure hanging out with you, guys. But now I have some… Business to attend,”** I said, biting my lower lip as both vampires nodded, **“I hope I see you another day, Josh!”** I told Josh before Marcel guided me to the exit of the bar.

 **“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”** He asked looking me with concern, **“I could take yo…”**

 **“I think this is something I need to do by myself, you know? No big brother for this,”** I looked at my hands, not trusting in my words, **“After all, this is between him and me.”**

 **“If things get too complicated, don’t hesitate to call me or run straight to my place, ok?”** He kissed my forehead before I agreed and went to the Mikaelson Compound.

I entered the place looking at every corner and small detail of the compound. That place that was once my home was the same as I remembered it, the same as I always imagined it. 

Thousands of memories filled my mind with each step I took inside the place: The first time they brought me here after I became a vampire; every time Cellus and I ran around, playing like the kids we used to be; All the balls that the family always organised on special dates… All that was still beating in my heart.

Everything vanished when I heard two well-known voices coming from one room on the first floor. They were the two most popular brothers in the family, Niklaus and Elijah, discussing something while looking at the fire in the fireplace. My presence was silent, no one had noticed me under the threshold of the door, looking at them, feeling the fear fill my body; But, just when I was about to turn around, regretting the idea of confronting them, the floor creaked under the sole of my shoe. The gazes of Elijah and Niklaus settled on me, both filled with surprise and doubt.

 **“Nikole?”** Asked the older brother, approaching me and placing a hand on my cheek, to confirm that I was real. Placing my hand on his on my face, I gave him a small smile, nodding **“I thought… I thought you were dead"** He said, pressing me against his chest like if I would disappear in any second.

It took a few seconds for my gaze to shift to Niklaus, who was observing us from across the room. The pain in my heart and the questions in my head showed up when I looked at him: He was the same as the last time I saw him, although being a vampire that was not surprising. He seemed fine, and that infuriated me but it also made me feel relieved. I wanted to yell at him, to punch him in the face, to torture him in every possible way for what he did… But I knew I wouldn’t, and I shouldn’t, because I was not like him.

 **“How is that you’re here? Niklaus and Marcel told us you died in that fire…”** He said when we separated. I knew he was confused and angry when he turned to face his brother, understanding he lied to him.

 **“Well, that it’s kind of a long story, ‘Lijah,”** I spoke, interrupting him and entering the room **“But I’m pretty sure your brother is the one who should explain the first part of it, am I right?”** I gave Klaus a small smile with no joy, while he gulps with obvious nervousness.

The silence that filled the place was sepulchral. The tension in the space got awfully heavy and could be destroyed with the simple flapping of a fly. The two brothers looked at each other with rivalry, exchanging glances with me in the middle.

Niklaus was becoming impatient. His fist and his jaw tensed as he turned around, his back to us, letting out a frustrated sigh before turning aggressively towards me again.

 **“What do you want?”** He asked, waving his arm towards me to point out, **“You arrive at my house, disturbing me and my brother, and you don’t even say why you are here,"** The words came out with hints of impatience and annoyance. My presence bothered him. Why? Was he not glad to receive me? Was he not glad to know that I am fine and alive after he left me to my fate over two decades ago? In any case, I am the one who may be annoyed and upset even with his simple presence.

 **"I think the reason for my return is quite obvious…”** I answered in a soft voice, looking Klaus in the eye for the first time since I arrived. His eyes widened, it was not particularly perceptible, and he lifted his chin, wanting to appear superior. There I noticed that he expected me to mention him. **“A horrible prophecy about the sire lines spread throughout the world,”** I said, playing with my fingers, now lowering my gaze to my hands and taking a small breath. I was just trying to stay calm so as not to say or do something to the hybrid that could make the situation worse, I was holding back **“So I came back to make sure everything was okay around here,”** my eyes turned to him again, who now seemed somewhat disappointed; however, that characteristic smug smile returned to his face.

 **“How considerate of you, but we’re fine, so you can go where you came from,”** the younger brother spoke, waving their hands for me to leave as if I were a puppy. 

**“Niklaus …"** the older brother spoke in a warning tone. I turned to see him with a small smile so he would drop the subject, I was ready to leave because I was already reaching my limit and I knew that Klaus was going to act this way no matter what I or Elijah said.

 **“Maybe tomorrow we can meet and talk… Alone, 'Lijah”** I offered, gently stroking the shoulder of the aforementioned, who nodded and then walked towards the exit of the room. I was about to take the last step to leave, but Klaus’s voice stopped me.

 **"And please don’t try to flirt with my incredibly loyal brother, he already has an exquisite girl in his sights,”** My body literally stopped reacting the moment my brain decoded those words. **“Besides, he is not like your little toy Damon, who is no longer available either.”** Once he finished speaking, I could feel the smile on his face, that smile I hated so much right now. I turned slowly to face him, not believing what he was saying and implying.

 **“Excuse me?”** I brought my hand to my chest, looking at him in disbelief, taking slow steps in his direction.

 **“Oh yes, I forgot your other toy, the wolf boy, didn’t I? I think he’s still waiting for you to come back, so you should go. I think you know how difficult it is to wait, right? "** The sarcasm in his voice was too much for me, had he really dared to say those things to me? He? What a shameless person. **“Oh, but I think I heard that he was unfaithful to you… I guess it’s the karma, then.”**

 **“Are you seriously doing this? Believe me, Klaus, you don’t want to”** I threatened in a soft voice, even though it was obvious the anger that was dominating me. Elijah was silent, positioning himself behind the sofa and I didn’t blame him, after all, he had nothing to do with this discussion.

 **“What does it look like to you, love?”** He opened his arms, inviting me to say whatever I had in mind. He knew that I was angry and that I had many things to say to him; however, he did not know that I was no longer the same Nikole from years ago, but he was about to find out. Elijah made a move to come between us, but I gave him a heavy look, warning him not to interfere. **“Are you going to talk or are you going to stare at us? Because I have better things to d… ”** His words were interrupted by the cushion that flew in his direction, but which he evaded, causing it to fall into the fireplace, into the flames of the fire. The gazes of both returned to me.

 **“You abandoned me, you idiot!"** I yelled furiously at him, knocking over another of the cushions, which he stopped with his hand this time. They both seemed to be processing the aggressiveness that I was distilling at the moment, they were both silent and surprise overflowed their faces **“I waited for you! For years! And do you think you have the right to speak to me like that? ”** I brought my hand to my hair to fix it, still not believing the hybrid’s bold words.

 **“Well, among so many guys I don’t think that waiting was so depressing,”** he spoke, trying to maintain his composure, not to appear unsettled before me. Another small smile settled on my lips as I shook my head.

 **“You know what? Yes, I was with Damon Salvatore,”** I admitted, taking another cushion in hand, ready to throw it at any moment **“He was there for me when I needed someone the most. Not like you. And yes, I was also with that sweet wolf boy, and it was the closest to normal adolescence that I have had in my years of life,”** I felt the tears accumulate in my eyes, as I kept talking **“I waited for you in all the places we visit together!, and close to Louisiana! But you never came, and you just want to say I wasn’t loyal to you?“** I threw the cushion which this time was stopped by the hand of Elijah, who stood by his brother’s side when he noticed how I approached him slowly and dangerously, **“Who do you think you are to talk? You are angry with me for having been with two boys after you left me, but you are the one who had a daughter!”** I pointed accusingly with my finger, making a fist with my other hand, **"You were also with those two blondes. What were they called? Oh yeah! Caroline and Camille.”** My tone of voice became more bitter with each word I spoke, and I couldn’t stop myself. All the accumulated pain wanted to be released **. "And who knows how many more girls have been in your life since we last saw each other!”** I felt Elijah’s arm rest on my shoulder once I was close enough to both of them, I knew that was a sign that I should calm down, but I didn’t want to; however, when I was about to continue, someone else entered the room.

 **“Hope is sleeping, could you please stop…"** We all turned to see the thin, pretty brunette girl who appeared in the middle of the discussion. I assumed she was Hayley, the mother of Klaus’s daughter and the one who had captured Elijah’s heart. Her eyes travelled the entire room, resting on me for a little longer. It was obvious she didn’t know who I was.

Suddenly, all the energy I’d had to yell at and hit Klaus was gone by the girl’s presence, so I decided it would be best to leave.

 **“The little girl is sleeping, we shouldn’t wake her up.”** I sighed, then left at vampire speed, ignoring Elijah, who called my name just before I disappeared.

The streets of New Orleans were still alive, and usually, that would have made me happy, but I wasn’t in the mood for the party. I immediately made my way to Marcel’s loft, needing my older brother to comfort me.

I spent so many years waiting for him, dreaming of the day when I would see him again… And I knew things wouldn’t work out with Klaus, but inside of me, I expected the opposite.


	2. “Who is she?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers!💕✨
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary ✨💕 If you enjoy this, please consider share so more people can read it and write a comment!💕✨  
> Thank you for reading!!! ✨💕

**“… Also, I know I can have a rational conversation with Elijah, so I’m going to meet him at Rousseau’s,”** I said out loud, throwing the empty bag of blood into the rubbish can, then grabbing the glass in which I had served it and sat on the couch.

 **“I will never get why you like Elijah so much,”** Marcellus said, showing up the stairs, and standing in front of me, his back to me as he finished putting on his shirt. I rolled my eyes at his comment, choosing to ignore it, bringing the glass to my lips to drink.

 **“That’s where Camille works at, right? At Rousseau’s,”** I asked in a playful tone, hiding the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach, hearing him giggle at my comment, . **“It would be an interesting encounter, don’t you think?”**

 **“I don’t think it’s a good idea to mess with her right now, K, ”** he said, picking up his jacket, putting it on and grabbing his phone. I chuckled, shaking my head, and took another sip of my drink.

 **“Oh, Cellus, please. You know I would never touch a hair, or even talk to her,” I** responded, watching as he turned and walked towards me. **“I just- I would like to know her in person,”**

 **“Yeah, I’m aware, K. Listen, I have to go see Davina, I gotta stop her from activating that thing, so after you meet Elijah you can go to the bar with Josh or come here,”** He said, handing me a copy of the keys to the loft, **“My home is your home, girl,”**

 **“Oh, thank you,”** I said getting up from the couch, setting the glass on the small table in front of me, and taking the keys, **“Hmm, Davina is the little witch, right? I would love to meet her sometime…”**

 **“Maybe later, when the waters calm down,”** he replied approaching me and kissing me on my forehead, **“See you later, K,”** He said goodbye and then left at vampire speed. Minutes later, I had made my way to Rousseau’s.

I sat down at one of the main tables, and waited until the original vampire appeared, at the same time that I examined the entire place looking for a particular blonde. It had been only a few minutes when Elijah appeared at the door. Seeing me, he gave me a light smile.

 **“I thought you wouldn’t come, after what happened last night,”** Elijah said, as I stood up and held out my hand, which he took with pleasure and kissed tenderly.

 **“Well, I came here to talk to you, not to him,”** I said sitting back in my seat, just like him. Before continuing, Elijah raised a hand for the waiter to attend us and, as a gentleman, took it upon himself to order a fine wine for both of us.

 **“Nikole, I’m genuinely sorry I didn’t suspect earlier, nor searched for you …”** He apologised, not meeting my eyes and brushing off some crumbs that were on the surface of the table.

My relationship with Elijah, out of the rest of the Mikaelsons, was always the best. He was like a great and responsible father to Marcellus (although he always saw Klaus more in this way, for obvious reasons) and to me, as he always cared about our education, manners and our well-being. He made us read Shakespeare, even memorise his stories, he also taught us to play the piano and other instruments. But that was for Cellus and me.

Elijah took a lot more care of me, as when I got to the Mikaelson’s home I was just a 17-year-old girl who had just completed the transition to vampire. He taught me to control my bloodlust, to defend myself, to use my vampiric abilities and about a lot of morals. I was a lot like Elijah in those ways, so the Mikaelsons (especially Kol and Klaus) used to joke I looked like his daughter, and our relationship felt like that.

Elijah taught me how valuable family was, and taking care of others, also how valuable it is to have an honourable word and how to fight. Even though I never had to kill or confront someone before the events of the night at the theatre, it served me well afterwards.

 **“I really wanted to talk to you, especially because not seeing Rebekah yesterday left me worried,”** I said, crossing my legs, frowning a bit in concern. The original vampire sighed a little, before taking his glass, **“What happened to her? Be honest with me, please,“**

 **"Rebekah is missing,”** He said in a voice filled with concern, yet he was trying hard not to show it, and it was no wonder. The disappearance of the youngest of the Mikaelsons was a big matter of concern, both for her family and for me, since I belonged to her bloodline, **“But Niklaus and I already know who has her and we will do whatever it takes to get it back. You have my word.“** He said.

 **"Who has her?"** I asked, still scowling, under the gaze of Elijah, who seemed hesitant to give me the information, **"If you’re going to get Rebekah back, I want to help, ‘Lijah. "** I said, letting go of his hand and looking at him in the eye.

The man in front of me gave a little sigh, then told me the shortened version of the situation they were in, mentioning three specific names: Lucien Castle and Tristan and Aurora De Martel. As I listened to the story, my arms remained folded and my brow furrowed, remembering hearing those names once from Klaus’s mouth, especially Aurora’s. My stomach ached at the thought of them together, and I sipped some of my wine, looking down at my hands.

 **"So, you don’t know who has her? I mean, I don’t truly believe that all three of them have her, it’s too risky…”** I said biting my lower lip, wondering who might have her.

 **“When you arrived yesterday, Niklaus and I had come up with a plan,”** Elijah said, taking another sip from his glass, **“Today we are meeting for a Thanksgiving dinner to try to break the alliance they formed. That way we will have an advantage over them, and we can get Rebekah back as soon as possible, we will know who has her. ”** He finished explaining.

There was silence for a few seconds, in which I tried to come up with some kind of plan in which I could be of help. When I could think of something good enough, I looked at Elijah with a little smile, playing with my fingers.

 **“Maybe I could go to dinner …”** I started with a soft tone, intending to persuade him, **“And I can help with Aurora, after all, we both came from the same bloodline, I don’t think it’s that difficult,”**

 **"Nikole, Aurora De Martel is an old vampire, she’s dangerous and quite unpredictable,”** he said slowly, as if I still didn’t understand that he had no desire to get me physically involved in the matter, **“I don’t even think Niklaus can keep her under his control as he thinks…,”**

 **“Well, I think Aurora has her, is her sire, it would make sense …”** I said in a murmur, to myself **“I can help you figure it out at dinner, let me help Elijah,”**

 **“Are you listening what i’m saying? I don’t believe Tristan would trust her with such a burden, as I said she is unstable and extremely dangerous.”** He said with a serious expression, **“I do not wish you to get in the middle of the battle,”**

 **“I want to help, and you know you won’t convince me otherwise,”** I said, taking another sip from my glass of wine, **“i’m not a little girl anymore, it’s been so long, Elijah,”** I said with a slight laugh, though I didn’t think what happened the night before was that funny, **“Aurora won’t be able to touch me a hair, let me help.”**

Minutes later, we reached a small agreement: I would attend the dinner, and help them persuade Aurora, on the condition that I would not talk about myself or my relationship with Klaus or him to the three vampires they invited; since, that way, I wouldn’t put myself more in danger. After taking the bottle of wine, we got up and, pinned on Elijah’s arm, we went to the compound.

When I got there, I didn’t find any familiar faces, only random humans compelled to decorate the place for the Thanksgiving meal. Elijah took me to Rebekah’s old room and instructed me to find a suitable dress there for the occasion while he searched for his brother to tell him about the little change in plans.

I ran my hand over all the dresses in the closet, looking at them, until a particular and delicate red dress caught my eye. That dress was mine, Rebekah had given it to me on my 20th birthday, so I took it and put it on, feeling at home somehow.

Almost 200 years ago, Rebekah Mikaelson, I had become what I am now, a vampire. It was not her intention, she accidentally converted me when she tried to heal me. An excellent summary would be that I was on the verge of death and she tried to make me drink her blood to heal me, but something went wrong and I died with her blood inside me, so minutes later I woke up hungry and very confused. I remembered that day clearly because it had been the beginning of my life as I know it today.

The sound of Elijah knocking on the bedroom door brought me out of my thoughts. The original opened the door, finding me in front of the mirror, fixing my hair. He looked at me, and smiled approaching, then told me that I looked beautiful. I smiled back at him, taking him arm to leave the room and as we walked I could hear the voices of the guests and Niklaus below.

 **“You look ravishing,”** Niklaus said to the redhead I recognised as Aurora, taking his hand and kissing it. A feeling of discomfort settled in my stomach, just like this morning. It was one thing to know that Niklaus was with other girls, and another was directly to see Niklaus with other girls. Especially after our fight last night, in which I hoped that he had received me that way and not with contempt.

 **“Welcome to our home,”** Elijah spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts. They all turned to see us, and I could see the intrigue in the eyes of the guests at my presence, **“I do wish it was under better circumstances. We all face a common threat…”** Elijah briefly rested his gaze on me as well, **“A prophecy warning that my siblings and I would all fall within a year,”** He said, now reaching the end of the stairs and stopping there. **“I fear my sister already has,”** Elijah said and glanced at the guests. 

**“Only as a precautionary measure, I assure you.”** The green-eyed man, whom I recognized as Tristan, spoke.

 **“Interesting,”** Elijah said, now continuing on our way, still pinned to his arm. **“You see, I would have called it and entirely unnecessary measure,”** Once we got close, we landed next to Klaus, coming face to face with the guests. Klaus in front of Lucien, me in front of Aurora and Elijah in front of Tristan, **“We need to unite to prevent the prophecy from coming to pass, and since any alliance is impossible without honesty, let us begin this evening’s proceedings by formally acknowledging your clandestine alliance.”** At the end of those words, the faces of the opponents betrayed their secrets. The man I recognized as Lucien was frustrated and Tristan was staring at an inaccurate spot.

 **“Now, Lady and gentlemen, before …”** Lucien began, but Elijah immediately shut him.

 **“Lucien, please,”** Elijah released my arm gently, holding Lucien’s gaze rivalry, **“Let’s not ruin the dinner before it begins.”**

 **“And do try to bear in mind, we expect an honest and productive negotiation this evening,”** said Klaus, who was to my right and whom I refused to look at, dedicating myself to examining the reactions of the guests at all times.

 **“I wish you would honour the same agreement,”** Tristan said, turning his gaze to me, **_“Who is she?”_ **He asked the Mikaelsons, I was about to reply when Klaus beat me to it.

 **“She is Nikole Joanikorena, is that enough?”** Klaus spoke again, with a fake smile. I looked at the hybrid with a scowl, but I changed it immediately and smiled at Tristan, who kept looking at me.

 **“Shall we begin?”** Elijah said, after a few seconds of silence, pointing to the table with a pleased smile on his mouth. The three guests headed off and seated first at the table, which was full of food that looked delicious. Before we sat down, Elijah and Klaus exchanged a significant look. As for me, Klaus looked at me with a serious expression and went to his seat without saying a word to me.


	3. “I rather enjoy Thanksgiving”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers!💕✨
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary, english is not my first language ✨💕
> 
> If you enjoy this, please consider share so more people can read it and write a comment to let me know you're enjoying this!💕✨  
> Thank you for reading!!! ✨💕

Once we were all in the table, the humans they had compelled served and set the dishes so we could start dinner. I had to admit that I didn’t like hypnotising humans to do these kinds of tasks, but there was no point discussing it with the family since for years when I lived here I tried, and in the same way, they continued to do it.

**“It’s a bit odd, isn’t it, celebrating an American holiday?”** Lucien asked, admiring everything on the table, and then smiling at me. I returned the smile politely and saying nothing, before returning my gaze to my plate.

**“Well, you know, Lucien, I rather enjoy Thanksgiving…”** Elijah said, settling in his chair, **“The turkey, the cranberry sauce, the lies, the deceit, the betrayal.”** He said and glanced at each of the guests as if speaking of them. Lucien and Klaus both held a cocky smile. The first drank some wine after Elijah’s words, and the second widened his smile at the reactions of the others. I pretended to fix my hair to cover a smile, as the comment had amused me. **“Perhaps we should begin this evening’s proceedings with a little confession and do help yourselves.”** He continued, setting down a small bowl of sauce on the table, after helping himself to some on his plate. Everyone helped themselves to a little of everything on the table.

**“So this entire dinner is meant to be some boorish inquisition. How rude,”** Aurora said to Elijah, rolling her eyes. 

For the first time since I saw her, I took the time to examine her: Beautiful red hair, nice big green eyes, baby face… All things Klaus would be attracted to.

Out of nowhere, fragments of old conversations with the hybrid hit my head. He had spoken to me about Aurora a few times in the past, but nothing deep, as he preferred to avoid the subject of the woman who broke his heart, and I strongly agreed with him.

**“Nonsense, Luv,”** Klaus told her, taking his glass in hand, and giving the redhead a flirtatious smile, **“My brother merely wishes to make certain we’re all on the same page, so who would like to begin?”** He said, glancing at everyone, including me, although when his eyes met mines they were full of discontent. Klaus was still mad at me, I was mad at him too, but I wasn’t there for him, so my goal was to avoid him.

**“Well, I would like to know why she is accompanying us in this private meeting,”** Aurora said, looking at me with a sham smile, and then turning to see Klaus. I assumed she had noticed the tension between us, so it was time for me to speak. I was going to open my mouth to explain the reason for my presence, but Klaus beat me to it.

**“She’s…”** He started, but was interrupted by my throat clearing, and my unfriendly gaze.

**“I can speak for myself, thank you,”** I said, smiling at him, hearing Lucien’s little giggle at my comment. My eyes went to Aurora, and I answered her question, **“Elijah invited me to this dinner for the same reason as you. I recently arrived in the city looking to protect my sire line, but it turns out someone else had already taken Rebekah.”** I said with a certain voice of concern at the end, passing my eyes over each of those who were sitting at that table.

**“It seems that we are the only ones concerned about our sireline,”** Aurora smiled at me with much more falsehood overflowing from the curves of her lips, and dropped the subject, concentrating on stroking Klaus’ hand. After a few seconds of silence, the Mikalesons placed their heavy gazes on the other two men at the table, for them to speak.

**“Well, Lucien and I have always loathed each other,”** Tristan said, pointing to the man in the chair next to me, who was looking back at him, **“Had we arrived as allies with news of a bleak future, you would have doubted us. We sought to remove suspicion by maintaining appearances.”** The green-eyed one finished expressing himself.

**“Oh my. Dear, these pathetic lies promise to be as difficult to swallow as your stuffing this year, Niklaus,”** Elijah said, referring at the food on his plate. The comment brought out a few little laughs and smiles from me and the aforementioned.

**“The bottom line is, we came to protect you and ourselves,”** Lucien said as a summary, “We have never wavered on this point.”

**“And the bodies on my streets, is that your protection, as well?”** Klaus added to Lucien’s comment.

**“It’s business as usual for The Strix,”** The vampire next to me replied as if it were obvious.

I had lost myself in the entire conversation. Marcel had explained certain things to me, but not so thoroughly, and I can’t blame him, since the Mikaelsons weren’t particularly open with him either. Confused with so many names and information, I focused on eating the turkey on my plate, rambling and trying to put some pieces together in my head. I didn’t pay too much attention to the conversation until a particular name reached my ears and I looked up.

**“Funny story… It turns out all along that the medallion was in the hands of Nik’s friend Camille, the bartender-slash-therapist,”** Lucien began, looking at Aurora, who was uncomfortable at the mention of the blonde. From her frown, I could tell that she didn’t know who Camille was, which made me have to hide a brief smile, thinking another drama was coming to Klaus. **“Had to get her arrested in order to search her goodies, so to speak,”** Klaus kept his gaze on him, while Aurora was frowning at Klaus.

All of us could feel the tension rise little by little, with each word Lucien said. I glanced at Elijah, and he looked at me too before putting his attention back to the man speaking, **“But I would never allow any harm to come to her, knowing the great affection you have for her.”**

Klaus dropped the fork he had grabbed as he heard Lucien’s words. In the hybrid’s eyes, you could see that he had already killed the vampire a thousand times in different ways in his mind. On the other hand, Aurora did not seem any less confused than before after listening to Lucien, she looked at Klaus in search of an answer that would please her ears.

I had to admit that a small feeling of jealousy settled in me knowing that Aurora and Camille had feelings for Klaus and that he reciprocated both of them. I took my glass and drank some of it, trying to distract those intrusive thoughts about Klaus and those two girls.

**“A medallion that could lock us away hardly seems like a wise strategy for those who come to protect us. Hand it over.”** Klaus said and ended with a demanding tone. Lucien smirked, also sipping from his glass.

**“And release Rebekah,”** Elijah added, with a straight face. I knew right away that the conversation would take an uncomfortable turn, so I prepared myself to attack in case things got out of hand, although I hoped it wasn’t the case.

**“Uh, just a tick. Aurora has Rebekah.”** Lucien pointed out, gesturing with his glass to the redhead in front of him.

**“No reason why I shouldn’t be trusted with my sire’s safety.”** The redhead replied in defence, without a bit of remorse or surprise at being ‘betrayed’, looking at Lucien playfully. In my heart, I celebrated that I was right about Aurora, but now we needed to make her tell her location.

**“And there is a reason why you should?”** I asked in a soft tone, drawing everyone’s attention again, as I had been quiet most of the time, **“I don’t want to sound rude, but I don’t know you at all, and I don’t feel comfortable knowing that Rebekah is in the hands of a stranger.”** I said, intertwining my hands under the table, looking at her while pressing my lips.

**“I’m not a stranger, darling,”** she replied with a giggle and looked at Klaus with her big eyes, as she crossed her arms over her chest, **“She turned me, so in fact, I’m the first vampire she turned.”** She spoke proudly, lifting her chin, **“Also Niklaus and I have been in love for a long time, I have known Rebekah long before. I think you’re the stranger,”** She said, taking Klaus’s hand over the table, and looking at me with that unbearable smile. I could see what the hybrid and the redhead had in common. They both have that smile with the ability to make me want to hit them in the face. However, I only lowered my head for a few seconds, and then looked back at her again.

**“Oh, I didn’t mean to make you feel cornered…”** I said putting a hand to my chest, and looking at Niklaus and Elijah with a frown in concern, before continuing, **“Rebekah turned me too, so I guess that we are both directly related to her,”** I took a serviette and cleaned my hands, although they were already clean, **“And you surely understand that, as Rebekah is like a sister to me and she took care of me for almost a century, just like the rest of the family, I care about her safety in a more personal way. I think we have the right to know her exact location,”** I said, causing the redhead to frown. She was about to say something, not very pleasant due to her facial expression, but Elijah beat her.

**“Niklaus, would you politely remind me why we shouldn’t compel them all to give us what we want?”** Elijah asked calmly, stealing the spotlight, also wiping his hands with a serviette. Immediately after he finished speaking, the siblings laughed, attracting attention.

**“I’m sorry. Did Elijah say something amusing?”** Klaus asked bitterly, looking at the De Martel siblings.

**“We lost a century to compulsion, my love,”** Said Aurora looking at him with a grin and then, quickly, she looked at Elijah with annoyance, **“And some of us lost a great deal more. Surely you can’t believe we’d allow ourselves to come here vulnerable.”**

**“My dearest Aurora, compulsion is not my only party trick.”** Elijah threatened with a soft tone to the redhead, who frowned slightly, finally taking his eyes off me.

**“I do not like these threats”** She answered, annoyed. She almost looked like a little girl about to throw a tantrum, and she looked at Klaus for some help.

One thing I disliked the most was having an excellent memory because after hearing that comment, some memories of when I still was compelled came to my head.

All those days wandering, not knowing where to go or what to do, having to compel people to survive in a world I had never known because my world was always the Mikaelsons. Nothing outside of that.

I felt very sorry for them, for having had to go through it, but I immediately shook my head, returning my gaze to the guests.

**“With all the nauseating dinner theatre we’ve endured throughout the centuries, these performances are, by far, the worst,”** Elijah said when he finished taking his glass, putting it on the table and then looking at the redhead. I blinked several times, noticing that I had lost myself in the conversation again, and I also took my glass to drink a little, and try to understand what they were talking about, **“Aurora, my sister …”**

**“Aurora is quite aware of our desire to see Rebekah home, and I’m sure she’ll do everything in her power to oblige.”** Klaus interrupted, adjusting his own hands on the table, looking at the aforementioned. Before anyone could say anything, the footsteps of a certain witch made us peek at her. It was Freya, the newly found sister of the Mikaelsons. Marcel had told me about her. So did Elijah in the morning.

**“We’re welcoming our enemies to the dinner table now?”** She spoke in a serious tone, looking at Klaus. I could see the disgust on Aurora’s face as she heard her approach. **“Convenient, given she’s the one who has the answers I want.”** The witch stood next to the redhead and looked at her with a small, bitter smile. Then she looked at everyone at the table, frowning a little at me, I just offered her a small smile.

**“Oh, for heaven’s sake, now I have to deal with the long-lost sister? Nik, please spare me your family’s rage and paranoia. It is exactly this kind of lunacy which led me to steal Rebekah in the first place.”** Aurora expressed in her high-pitched voice, making all heads turn in her direction. My eyes rolled as I set the glass on the table, resting my hands on it, on the edge.

**“What did you do with her?”** I asked her, gently as I could, but she gave me an annoyed look, anyway.

**“This prophecy has you all acting like fools, and I’ve no intention of risking my life to foolishness,”** She said, and then looked at us all as if we were crazy, **“Now, I can’t trust Rebekah with any of you, and certainly can’t trust the silly dear to endure on her own, so I decided to put her someplace safe,”** She looked at Niklaus this time, a proud smile on her lips, **“Imagine a spot where no harm could come to her, where, in fact, no one could possibly even track her down.”** My mind, like everyone’s, worked at full speed to figure out where the hell she had hidden the blonde, but mine didn’t seem to go anywhere, **“Yes. Rest assured, Rebekah is perfectly fine… at the bottom of the ocean.”** Elijah and Klaus’ faces quickly became mis-configured in concern. I put both hands on the table ready to stand up and looked at her in disbelief.

**“That is insane…”** I murmured, unable to believe what she had said. The bottom of the ocean? Why would she do that?, those were some thoughts I had while expecting an answer.

**“You’re bluffing.”** Klaus said, looking at her with a neutral face which then turned into an angry one when he saw her deny, **“Tell me you’re bluffing.”**

**“Oh, you should all be thanking me. Rebekah’s never been safer. She has plenty of company down there. There’s all the little crabs and octopus and…”** Klaus interrupted her, slamming the table. The instant Klaus got up, Tristan got up too and grabbed Freya at vampire speed, placing the knife at her neck. I gave a little gasp in amazement at how the situation had escalated.

**“Harm my sister, and I’ll be forced to return the favour.”** He threatened the hybrid, but Elijah moved quickly, and pushed him away from her sister, pulling him against one wall, grabbing him by the neck.

**“Oh, this all escalated very quickly, don’t you think?”** Lucien said jokingly, and looking at me, expecting me to laugh at his joke, but I just kept my eyes straight ahead, ready for any sign of attack.

**“Shut up, Lucien, or I’ll tear your tongue from your head.”** Klaus threatened, completely angry, pointing his finger at Lucien.

**“Be careful with your threats, Nik. Anything should happen to me, I won’t be able to protect you precious Cami.”** He threatened him back. This time I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the mention of the blonde, as the situation seemed very cliché. The cute, helpless and human blonde, taken hostage by the great powerful villain, to annoy the great ‘hero’.

**“That is the second time I’ve heard her name. Just who is Cami?”** Aurora asked impatiently, but before anyone could do or say anything, I got up and with great speed cracked her neck. For a few seconds, the place was silent, and only the noise of Aurora’s body against the ground was heard. Everyone was looking at me, especially the Mikaelsons, with great surprise. The surprised looks were already beginning to bother me.

**“I’m sorry. She seemed like she would never shut up about it, and I thought it was for the best,”** I said, clasping my hands behind my back.

**“Niklaus, which of these two vulgar parasites would you first like to torture?”** Elijah asked her brother, continuing with their business and dragging Tristan to the chair where he had sat at dinner. 

**“Well, it’s half of a dozen of one and six of the other, isn’t it? Why don’t you take the stable boy? Tristan and I are long overdue a good catch-up. Oh, if anything happens to Camille…”** Klaus said, placing her hands on Lucien’s shoulders, speaking into his ear. 

Hearing him threaten the vampire because of Camille reminded me of when he did the same for me. When he could burn the universe just for me. And the thought it will never come back made me shake my head slightly and walk until I got next to Freya, who gave me a small smile that I gladly returned.

**“Oh, I’m quite certain Lucien’s aware of that devastating error,”** Elijah said, grabbing Aurora’s brother by the collar of his shirt and dragging him away, Klaus did the same with Lucien, and Freya and I took care of taking Aurora’s body to another place.


	4. “We're not playing here”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers!💕✨
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary, english is not my first language ✨💕
> 
> If you enjoy this, please consider share so more people can read it and write a comment to let me know you're enjoying this!💕✨  
> Thank you for reading!!! ✨💕

I finished folding my dress and hung it on the folding screen, coming out with more comfortable clothes, just for my eyes to meet the redhead sprawled in the room’s corner. Who would say that in sleep she seemed innocent? I thought, inclining my head a little.

Aurora De Martel gave me headaches just by remembering her high-pitched voice and those little eyes she made at Klaus during dinner. Yes, I was jealous; I admitted it once and for all. However, that didn’t mean anything else, it was just a natural response to seeing him after so many years, or that’s what I told myself.

My head was filled with conflicting thoughts, which I preferred to ignore, about the hybrid, but I just couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the demonstrations of affection between him and the sleeping beauty in front of me.

 **“Didn’t Elijah tell you to leave?”** Freya asked me, interrupting my thoughts, as she organised her magic elements to cast the spell before Aurora woke up.

 **“Yes, but … I thought you may need some help,”** I said, lowering my voice a bit, putting on my sweater.

 **“I didn’t mean to sound rude…”** She said raising her gaze and giving me a little shy smile, **“I already called Hayley, but it’s always good to have one more hand.”** She looked down to read one page of the grimoire.

 **“Thank you…”** I said before she started to cast the spell. While she did her work, I paced around the room, looking at all the objects there to distract me.

The thought Hayley, Aurora, and I would be in the same room together seemed very intimidating to me, but at the same time, I felt that it was a kind of karma from what I told Marcel about a possible meeting with Camille.

Deep in my heart, I was grateful that Aurora didn’t know about my past with the hybrid, as it would make the situation more uncomfortable. Also, after seeing a bit of how she is like with my own eyes, I understood why Elijah didn’t want me to say anything about it.

 **“I don’t know if you remember but,”** Freya said when she finished doing the spell, **“We’ve met before, in a Christmas ball,”** She said before lighting a sage. I approached her, running my hands over my arms, searching for her face in my presumed good memory.

 **“Oh, yes!”** I exclaimed after a couple of seconds. I gave myself a mental slap for not having recognised her before, **“It was in 1914, right?”** She nodded, and I smiled at her, **“Yes, I remember, we had a few drinks and talked about…”**

 **“Kol and what type of boyfriend he is”** She ended my sentence and we both let out a shy giggle.

 **“Oh, my god! How could I talk to you about him like that?”** I gasped, realising everything, and laughing at my ignorance then, **“Now I feel embarrassed for trying to make you two a couple, I thought you liked him…”**

 **“Well, you didn’t know,”** She said, doing a wave with the hand to downplay it, **“But why did you think that?”**

 **“You started to ask questions about the family, so I thought you were in love with them, that’s why I talked to you about Kol,”** I explained, playing with my fingers and feeling my cheeks go red, **“Since Klaus was with me and Elijah practically begged me to stop looking a woman for him, Kol was the only available Mikaelson at that moment…”**

 **“I asked you about them because I wanted to know more about my family,”** She said with a brief smile in her mouth.

 **“Yeah, now I realise that… And it’s kind of weird, a completely different situation,”** I said, observing her as she smoked the room, **“Actually now everything is different than years ago …”** Freya interrupted me.

 **“Took you long enough,”** Said the witch looking at Aurora, who had just woken up. My eyes also fell on the redhead sitting on the ground, looking around, trying to locate herself.

 **“Oh, are we to play a fun game?”** She asked with a smile on her face, looking at me and Freya. My eyes rolled involuntarily, and I sighed as I watched Freya approach the vampire.

 **“Actually, yes, and now that my spell has made it so no one can hear what happens… We’re going to have a lot of fun.”** She said turning to see as I took a few steps to land on the witch’s left, arms crossed.

 **“Well, well, but if isn’t the strange girl who apparently likes to break necks,”** She scoffed at seeing me in front of her, it was obvious that she was irritated by that, **“Your angelic face at dinner did not fool anyone, my dear,”** She shook her head to adjust her hair and then looked back at us.

 **“I think we better get straight to the point, Aurora,”** I said, drawing my lips into a line and shrugging.

 **“Oh, okay,”** She said, **“So then what, pray tell, are we doing here?”** She looked at us both, still in that mocking tone.

 **“You are going to tell us where to find Rebekah,”** I told her with a small smile, leaning towards her.

 **“Or we going to kill you,”** Hayley said, appearing through the door, making us all turn to see her. The brunette was taking big steps, overflowing with confidence and bringing an intimidating aura on her. She didn’t seem to play. Once she reached us, she landed on my left side, exchanging glances with me quickly, but nothing significant.

 **“Oh, you must be Hayley, the mother of Klaus’s daughter”** Aurora giggled looking at us all from the ground with a playful smile, prompting us to start. **“I really wanted to meet you,”**

 **“ _We’re not playing here_ , Aurora,” **Freya told her with a serious look and a bitter tone of voice.

 **“Where is she?”** Hayley asked her aggressively.

 **“Why would I tell you? She will not be safe here,”** She said with a challenging expression.

 **“Just tell us where she is,”** I said crossing my arms, and rolling my eyes, **“Make this easier for all of us, I know you’re not happy laying on the floor nor being with us in the same room,”** I said in a sigh.

 **“You’re right,”** She said before she stood up, and gave us all a forced smile, **“But I am enjoying your suffering, your desperation to know Rebekah’s whereabouts,”** She laughed.

 **“I’m going to ask you again,”** Hayley said after hitting Aurora in the face with her right fist, **“Where is Rebekah?”**

 **“You’re quite strong for an infant,”** The redhead said teasingly, wiping the blood from her lip, looking at her with a terrifying glint in her eyes. Shortly after those arrogant words, screams came from her throat because of the spell that Freya was giving her. However, the old vampire somehow managed to push Freya to the side, causing her to crash into the doorframe, and fight Hayley, throwing a fist straight into the brunette’s face.

After seeing that Freya was okay, I moved quickly and pulled Aurora’s hair away from Hayley, and pinning her to a wall. Aurora’s fist slammed into my face in the second attempt to hurt me, beating me to the ground.

Hayley approached Aurora at full speed, wanting to counterattack but her kick was stopped by the hand of the redhead who threw her into the air causing her to crash into the wall on the other side of the room, I quickly went to help her, as it had been an ugly blow.

Hayley could be the woman who gave Klaus a daughter, and I could be even more jealous of her than of Aurora for that; but she was family, whether it was because she was Hope’s mother or because she was Elijah’s lover, and she was an ally in this fight, I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

 **“Are you okay?”** I held out my hand to her, which she accepted and stood up right away, almost with smoke coming out from her ears. She fixed her murderous gaze on Aurora, who was screaming for the spell that Freya had applied her again.

 **“Whoo!!”** The redhead exclaimed before laughing mockingly. Hayley and I exchanged confused looks, **“That actually hurt,”** she said to Freya, as she fixed her hair and sighed with a smile on her lips, **“Oh, I haven’t felt pain since the 1700s, kind of tickles,”** She said, looking at all of us. **“And for that, I’m gonna make you suffer”**

In my mind, I could only think of everything that she possibly went through so that she didn’t feel pain if not to such an amount. I could tell that we were all impressed by the somewhat sadistic behaviour of the old vampire.

Aurora was about to attack Hayley, but I jumped on top first, pinning her down, grabbing her by the neck and handing her to the hybrid, **“Just tell us where Rebekah is, I don’t think you’re in the mood for a bite, are you, darling?”** I asked, irritated by her behaviour and trying to imitate her tone of voice and accent.

 **“By all means, if only I can laugh in your faces when Niklaus heals me”** She scoffed, but before her laugh left her lips, Hayley grabbed her by the neck and pushed her hard against the wall, causing her to crash.

 **“Maybe Klaus would heal you, but I doubt he would heal your brother,”** Freya said, before looking at Hayley, who had landed next to her. **“Why don’t you bite him instead?”**

 **“No one should dare harm my brother,”** She said, seeing Hayley’s positive reaction to Freya’s words. The redhead approached us with a threatening look, anger overflowing from her eyes, **“Seeing as you’re all going to need him if you want your precious Rebekah back.”** She said this while looking me in the eyes.

 **“What do you mean?”** I asked, crossing my arms, nearing her and staring back at her. Aurora smiled arrogantly and walked around me under the vigilant eyes of the witch and the hybrid who were a few steps from us.

 **“You see, while I did ensure that Rebekah was dropped in the ocean,”** She said, continuing to circle me, **“I don’t know precisely where,”** She made a mocking face when she stood in front of me, before continuing her round, **“I had some old friends to do it for me,”** She stopped at a point where she could see us all three in the face and gave us an innocent smile before opening her mouth again, **“And then I killed them.”**

 **“So you don’t know Rebekah’s location?”** Hayley asked her, tensing her two hands, glaring at the redhead who smirked, slowly denying with her head.

 **“Oh, darling…”** She spoke almost with shame, following her path around me, **“I got two envelopes, one with the latitude and one with the longitude.”** She stopped again, this time behind me, running her hands over my hair, **“I have the first envelope, and Tristan has the second,”** This time she placed her hands on my shoulders, making me tense, and she directed her gaze to Hayley and Freya, **“So tell me, girls… Who has the advantage now?”** Her voice became harsh, as her hands abruptly left my shoulders, to walk and settle between me and the girls, looking at all of us with that unbearable smile.

The three of us exchanged glances with the same concern, knowing that Aurora was right, so I sighed and brought one of my hands to my hair, fixing it while I shook my head slightly.

 **“Klaus probably got the same information out of Tristan already, we should go with the rest,”** I said with a shrug, and opening the door to go down the hall again, with the two girls behind me, as Hayley had to go.

I wished with all my strength that Klaus and Elijah already had a plan ready, as is their habit. I just wanted to get rid of Aurora to find Rebekah and end that horrible prophecy.

When I thought that, a doubt came to my head, what would I do after everything was solved? Would I stay with The Mikaelsons and Marcel? Or would I go back to travel the world? My insecurities vanished when I saw Elijah’s disconcerted face at the bottom of the stairs.

 **“What are you still doing here, Nikole?”** He asked me, walking near me towards the table. I sighed, pausing a moment to answer him, looking at his face.

 **“I know I told you that Aurora wouldn’t touch me a hair, but I said nothing about me touching hers… It’s Rebekah we’re talking about, I’m going to fight anyone as many times as necessary if that’s what I need to save her, even though I don’t like violence,”** I told him with a small smile before taking my seat at the table again, watching the girls arrive seconds later, just like Klaus and the other two missing men.

 **“Longitude and latitude. Lovely,”** Lucien spoke, breaking the silence as he poured himself a glass of wine.

 **“Well, despite our differences,”** Tristan said this time, **“I believe great strides were made today.”** He looked at his sister, who was sitting next to him, and they clinked their glasses with smiles on their faces.

 **“Tristan, I can’t murder you this very moment,”** Elijah began, bitterly, **“But I could just as easily tear those eyeballs from your skull and feed them to your sister.”** He threatened, looking at the De Martel siblings with narrowed eyes.

 **“Elijah,”** His younger brother called him, **“These are our guests.”**

 **“Nik, it’s so sweet of you to defend us,”** Aurora spoke, looking with sweet eyes at the Original hybrid. My eyes rolled and a small, almost inaudible snort left my lips as I looked away.

 **“You know,”** Klaus said, rising from his seat, **“I doubted my brother’s wisdom in bringing us all together today, but he was right.”** He said placing his gaze on Elijah, pointing at him for a few seconds, before taking his glass in hand, **“We must confront the harsh realities we all face, and make difficult choices…”** My eyes narrowed as I saw him raise his glass, and his gaze rested on me before continuing, **“To ensure our collective survival,”** I watched everyone take their glass in hand and shot a glance at Elijah, who looked annoyed, so I decided not to take my glass, as I didn’t agree either. My gaze returned to Niklaus, who was taking a sip of his drink, before continuing with his speech **“And I have every confidence that my choice…”** He put the glass on the table and walked over to Elijah, settling beside him, **“Will be the right one”** He finally said, glancing at Tristan for a few seconds, before going at vampire speed and snapping his neck, leaving everyone shocked.

 **“Were you anyone else, the servants would already be mopping your blood from the floor,”** He told Aurora, who was still looking at him in disbelief, **“if you do not bring my sister home, Tristan will die slowly and in tremendous pain.”** He threatened her with a hostile expression.

 **“You betray me after all your promises of love.”** The vampire said with a pained voice. Something inside me hurt, knowing very well what she was feeling; however, I did not allow myself to empathise with her more deeply.

 **“I meant to keep those promises!”** The hybrid yelled at her, **“It was you who shattered them when you took Rebekah!”**

While that scene was happening, I slowly moved up to Elijah’s side unconsciously, and took his arm, seeking to calm the wave of feelings inside me when I saw them argue in front of me. I noticed that I was no longer alone, and was really with my family, when he placed his free hand on mine pinned on his arm, transmitting those feelings of security that I had not felt for so long.

In the past, a place next to Elijah was my safe place. If something had happened that upset me or made me feel bad, I always went to Elijah, who with a hug or simply letting me be by his side, made me feel better or less affected by the external harm.

 **“Now I have your brother, a sibling for a sibling,”** Klaus told her, bringing his angry face closer to hers. **“I want Rebekah back.”**

 **“You will regret this.”** Aurora threatened with tears in her eyes, before walking away with furious steps, destroying even the table.

 **“After everything today, you just let her go?!”** Freya snorted to her brother, crossing her arms.

 **“Aurora should be easy enough to control. We have Tristan now.”** Elijah said, now hugging me with one arm as he spoke and Freya snorted again, going to her room.

 **“Lucien…”** Klaus approached the other vampire, leaning over the table, **“You will take me to Camille, and you will surrender the medallion, or you will meet an end so cruel, the devil will weep.”** He said in a deep voice, moving at vampire speed and taking Lucien with him who knows where to rescue Camille.

Only Elijah and I were left standing there. His gaze fell on me and, after a few seconds, I let go of his arm, putting myself in front of him, resting a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him softly.

 **“We’re going to get Rebekah back, whatever it takes,”** I said to comfort him, although we both knew it was more to comfort myself, **“Now I have to go back before Cellus notices that I’m not where I’m supposed to be,”** I stood on tiptoe to place a kiss on his cheek.

 **“Did the years of fighting lessons served you upstairs?”** He asked with a brief smile, provoking a small giggle from me.

 **“You know I’ve always been better with words** **,”** I said laughing before quickly leaving the place, heading to the bar, in search of my brother


	5. “I needed your help many years ago, I don't anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey~! In this chapter, there's a fight (physical fight and an argument) Also, it may have some bad words...  
> This chapter is longer than the others, this has almost 4,5k words, sorry (???)🙈🙈🙈  
> I don't think this is the best chapter I've write and I don't feel very satisfied with this, but as long as you like it... I'm okay lol
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary. 💞✨  
> I hope you enjoy this and, if you do, please consider reblog, comment and a like!!! ✨💞

I got to the bar, moving my eyes all over the place, identifying some vampires of my brother's group. The place was kind of empty.

 **“Hey, Nikole!”** Josh said, catching my attention. I smiled at him as I walked over to the table where he was, **“How are you doing?”**

 **“Hi!”** I said, sitting next to him, **“I'm a bit tired, to be honest,”** I said, tickling the table wit my fingers, **“Business, you know...”** I joked **, “Actually, I was at the Mikaelsons.”**

 **“Oh, you must be exhausted, they are not easy...”** He said, offering me a drink, which I accepted.

 **“I like to think about them as the Kardashian family, but like supernatural,”** I said, laughing out loud with Josh. When we were calm again, I rested my arm on the table and my face in my hand, looking at him, **“So, what about you? Have you been here all day?”**

 **“We're always here, or doing something for Marcel, it's part of the job,”** He said, taking a quick look at the others vampire.

 **“You never told me how you became part of this, do you mind if I ask?** ” I said, interested in the conversation's topic. He proceed telling me how Marcel’s men kidnapped him and his ex-best friend, how she betrayed him, and how after that Marcel turned him. I opened my mouth, horrified, feeling bad for those poor humans.

 **“Oh my God, I had no idea Marcellus did that!”** I said, covering my mouth in embarrassment for my brother’s actions. Cellus says he’s not a Mikaelson, but he proves it every time with his actions, thinking of power and going by violence, as he learned.

 **“Marcel's a good friend and being a vampire is the best thing that could happen to me,”** He said, then proceeding to tell me how his family was so rude with him for being gay and how he found a home here, **“And you? How did you become a vampire?”**

**“Rebekah Mikaelson turned me. I think vampirism was the best thing that could ever happen to me too.”** I said remembering my past, **“When I turned 17, my parents engaged me to a witch who had a better social status,”** I said, playing with the soda, **“As the black sheep of the family, they believed my destiny was to die without honour, and they thought that was my only chance to get married so I could die with some value or something,”** I said with a chuckle at the nonsense my parents said, **“So when I was travelling to meet the man I was going to marry, my carriage crashed and everything fell apart, there was blood all over the place... Yeah,”** I said. Those memories felt like dreams sometimes, until that weird feeling in my stomach that said it wasn’t a dream.

**“Those were weird times, huh?”** He said, joking, **“I thought Klaus was the one who turned you, you two seemed to be closer… For what you and Marcel told me”**

**“I became a Mikaelson after Rebekah turned me,”** I said, **“We all were close, even Cellus,”** I said, leaning back in my chair, **“In our own way, of course. But yeah, Klaus and I were close, even closer than you think,”** I sighed, playing with my fingers, **“Anyway, life is mysterious and unpredictable, so...”** I said, and Josh nodded at my words, **“By the way, do you know where Cellus is? He wasn't in the loft,”** I asked.

**“Well, I haven't seen him since this morning. He was on his way to see Davina,”** he said, **“But, he may have finished by now, have you tried calling him?”**

**“Yeah, on my way here, but he didn't pick up the phone,”** I bite my lower lip and sighed, **“Do you know any other place he could be?”**

**“Maybe he's at the gym,”** he said, and my eyes lit up for a second.

**“And where is the gym?”** I asked, getting up from my seat, ready to go find my brother.

**“It's in the church.”** He said and explained to me how to enter the place. My head tilted slightly in confusion. In the first place, why is a gym in a church?

**“Well, thank you,”** I said, walking towards the exit, but I stopped and I turned to see him, **“Oh, and if you see Cellus first, and he asks about me… I spent the day with you, and I don't know what a Mikaelson is, okay?”** I said, and when I saw him nod, I left the bar.

As I walked to the church, I took some time to look at the streets and compare them to how they were in my memories, thinking of all those walks around the quarter I used to enjoy when I was younger.

When I got to the place, I felt intimidated for some weird reason, and I sighed, hoping that Marcel was there. The church was really quiet so my hopes slowly died with each step I took, very stealthy and silent steps to tell the truth; however, I immediately heard a very irritating and familiar voice that made me roll my eyes and I wanted to run away to never hear it again.

I was about to turn around and leave until I heard another voice that intrigued me. After listening for a few seconds, I understood that the other voice belonged to none other than Camille O'Connell. Why was Camille here? She was supposed to be with Klaus and Lucien... What a good kidnapper and what a Good hero.

A strange feeling grew in my stomach. Was it jealousy? Pity? Concern? All of them together? Camille was a human, held hostage by a crazy and jealous vampire. I think it was all of them.

As I listened to their conversation, I tried to be as quiet as possible and think of some plan. Should I tell Klaus? No, I don't even have his number. Should I call Elijah? Oh, right, I can't make a call without Aurora listening... My thoughts were all over the place.

My level of concern made me angry because it reminded me of myself before that night. That weak and dependent Nikole, paralyzed by any attack or anything that made her feel a bit nervous.

I remembered Elijah telling me to put my insecurities aside in times like this, to find the fastest and safest way possible. I immediately decided that I should intervene myself. This was not the time to freeze, or for that Nikole to return. For all those years I survived alone, and that was the woman I was now.

Somehow I had to enter the place and get Camille out of there. Why? Because I would never forgive myself If I didn’t. Camille was Klaus's new love interest. Klaus, the one I don't like, also the one who comes across my mind, confusing me; but I wouldn't leave Camile there.

**“We're not romantically involved, no,”** I heard her, **“But I do care about him,”** She said and I sighed, before entering the room. I never imagined this was the way I would meet her.

**“What a good therapist you are, Camille,** ” I said, causing both to look at me. My steps towards them were short and a little slow, but it was just to buy seconds to think about what to say to them.

 **“You again? What are you doing here?”** Aurora said with an annoyed tone of voice, as she watched me approach them, crossing my arms over my chest.

 **“Well... I'm here for her,”** I said, pointing to Camille, who was leaning slightly from the ring's net.

 **“Excuse me, who are you?”** The blonde asked, crossing her arms. She probably thought I was another crazy vampire, but all I wanted was to get her out of there.

 **“Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself,”** I apologised, **“I'm Nikole Joanikorena, it's nice to finally meet you. Klaus has told me a lot about you.”** I lied, turning to see the two women at their faces.

 **“Why would he do such a thing? You two seemed to despise each other at dinner,”** Aurora said, shooting fire from her eyes. **“Besides, you said you just arrived.”**

 **“I kind of lied, sorry.”** I said, drawing a straight line on my lips, looking at her with some pity, **“The truth is I've been here the entire time, living with the Mikaelsons...”** I said walking around, **“And my boyfriend, Klaus,”** I said. I was breaking the promise I made to Elijah, but I had to redirect the vampire's attention from Camille to me.

 **“You're lying.”** she said, **“Nik loves me, he loved me long before you came into his life.”** she said, taking a few steps towards me, **“In fact, I am the love of his life”**

 **“Aurora, I’m so sorry I’m the one telling you this,”** I said, putting a hand on my chest, **“But, I can assure you he was just pretending.”** I said. Inside of me, I hoped that was real, although I suspected it was because according to everyone Camille was the most precious thing to Klaus, not Aurora. **“Now, would you like to tell me why are you playing with her? Are you afraid of facing someone your size?”** I said without really thinking, making the redhead laugh out loud with no joy. My God, what was I getting myself into? Was I regretting it? Yes, a little, but if I could save a human life important to the family, I suppose it was worth it.

 **“Me? Afraid of you? Please, honey,”** she shook her hair, pointing at Camille, **“Niklaus has a notorious affection for her...”** She said. Yes, I know, Aurora, could we stop mentioning her if it’s not to let her go? Thanks.

 **“You're wasting your time.”** I interrupted her, **“She's his therapist, he doesn't care, and that's why we use her,”** I sighed as if everything was obvious and Aurora too dumb to understand, **“We had a plan. You would think he hates me, so you wouldn't come for me but for her,”** I explained, pointing at Camille, who looked really confused.

 **“Why are you doing this, then?”** Aurora asked me, **“Nik would never let you screw up such a well put together plan, would he? Especially if it is to protect someone he loves.”**

 **“You said it yourself,”** I replied, putting my hands on my waist, **“And me? I'm doing this because I want you to be away from my boyfriend,”** I said, reaching out and taking a lock of his hair with care, looking into her eyes. 'My boyfriend’, those words echoed in my mind. Klaus, my boyfriend? He was, a long time ago, and for a long time too, until he decided he didn't love me anymore. **“After today, I decided that I'm done with that plan.”**

 **“I am the love of his life,”** she pulled my hand away from her hair, **“As I said before, you’re the only stranger here.”**

 **“What is it you don't understand? Klaus was using you, I'm the one he loves, not you, not her, it's me!”** I exclaimed and put my hands on my chest, pointing to myself. While saying those words, a strange feeling came over me. Maybe I wish that was more than a lie.

 **“Shut up! You know nothing about Nik and me.”** She seemed to be on the verge of losing all control, so it was time for her to release Camille, I had to convince her.

 **“I know everything, I wouldn't be here if I didn't,”** I said, **“He doesn't care about you or what Elijah did centuries ago because that changes nothing.”**

 **“You little...”** She tried to hit me, but I ran and landed next to Camille at vampire speed, grabbing her by the shoulders, feeling her tense with my touch.

 **“This situation is so anti-feminist,”** I said, pouting a bit. What was I doing? I don't know, I just wanted to rescue Camille, not to fight Aurora again, **“But we can put an end to this if that is what you want. I only have one condition,”** I said, looking at Aurora, **"Let her go,”** I looked at Camille, **“She is just a human, she doesn't have to be between our problems,”** I said. Aurora thought about it for a few seconds before nodding her head, waving her hand to dismiss it. It seems having her on the edge overrode her logical thinking.

 **“I'll take care of her later,”** she said, **“Hurry up, Cami, I'm going to put this little whore in her position,”** she said, clenching her jaw.

 **“Run,”** I whispered in the blonde's ear, almost pushing her toward the exit. Camille looked at me confused and started running. **“And now, what did you just call me? 'Little whore'?”** I asked, and she lunged at me to hit me in the face with her fist, but I dodged the attack quickly, pushing her to the other side and making her land on the ground.

 **“Shut up! He loves me!”** She said before trying to hit me again, but this time she did. I groaned a little and hit her with my right hand, making her stagger as she lost her balance, then punching her to the ground.

 **“But I am his girlfriend”** I pounced on her, trying to pin her down, but she ran away from me. It all happened so fast when she kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying into the nets of the ring. And, even before I got up, she started hitting me again and grabbed me by the neck, pinning me in. I definitely had to go back to fighting class, because this wasn't going as well as I had planned.

 **“He will be mine again because we are the love of each other's life,”** She said before hitting me in the face, making my lip bleed and throwing me to the ground.

 **“You are lying to yourself,”** I said, getting up and taking her by the neck. As we looked at each other, I gave her a punch that made her fall to her knees, **“You can't beat me Aurora, I've lived with the Mikaelsons for a long time,”** I said before she tried to attack me again.

Aurora wanted to take my hair with her hand, but I stopped her with mine, pulling her to the ground next to me. I got on her and started throwing fists, although she evaded most of them. Quickly, and without knowing how, she made us change places. Now I was under her, and she was hitting me. I just needed the chance to break her neck and run away from this place. With my hands I looked for something on the ground to hit her, I grabbed what seemed to be a weight and hit her with that in the head. Because of the blow, she fell to the side and started bleeding. I took advantage to get up and be ready to break her neck as soon as she approached. Aurora was about to run towards me with her fists clenched, ready to hit me.

 **“Enough!”** The scream echoed throughout the place made us stop and look in the direction it came from, **“Honestly, Aurora, these petty displays are so far beneath you.”** Klaus said, pointing to the place with both arms. What is he doing here? Couldn't you have got there before me and rescued Camille? God... **“Jealousy is more my game,”** He said, now looking at her.

 **“Oh, would that I didn’t have the need for it?”** Aurora said, taking a few steps towards him, before giving me a look and pointing her hand at me.

 **“Why should you? Camille was not a match for you,”** he said, and then he looked at me. His eyes swept over my injured face and then he looked away, **“And I can assure you that she is not either.”** His neutral expression made me want to roll my eyes back in a way that they would never turn forward. Did he really care so little? After all these years, he didn't care? A part inside of me just wanted him to care about me and the other could send him to hell **“Your fears are ridiculous.”** he looked at her, raising his eyebrows.

 **“Nik, I have no doubt you love me,”** she said, standing next to me and touching my hair. I, aggressively than I pretended, removed her hand, causing her to giggle at the hybrid, **“I was just hurt to learn that you would lower yourself to that bag of blood and this… girl.”** I took a deep breath at the moment she turned her head to see Klaus and took some steps towards him. I dared to break her neck with no hesitation, not really thinking about the consequences if it didn’t work, but it did. Klaus looked at me in surprise, and gasped almost silently, saying nothing, when the redhead’s body fell.

 **“In case you didn’t know, Camille left a while ago,”** I said without looking at him, about to run, but his words stopped me.

 **“Oh, I did know, I saw Camille running like a scared horse through the streets before I came here,”** he said, and I crossed my arms, not understanding the situation. Why had he come if he knew Camille was safe? Was he planning to catch Aurora?

 **“Why did you come if she was fine? I had to break my deal with Elijah for her,”** I told him, wanting to leave without an answer, because I couldn't bear to be by his side, but a part of me wanted to stay and know.

 **“She told me that a little vampire girl helped her escape,”** he said, balancing his weight from one foot to the other, **“The only infant-faced vampire in New Orleans is you, so it wasn't that difficult,”** he explained with that Irritating tone of voice, **“But why would you do such a thing? You don't even know her, and I remember very well that the other night you expressed yourself quite aggressively about her.”**

 **“Well, Klaus, I'm not a monster,”** I abstained from saying 'like you', as I didn't want to add any more fuel to the fire yet and because inside me I didn't really think that way about him, **“She wasn't involved in this, not like you or me, she didn't have to suffer for just being your new girlfriend,”** I replied, lifting and dropping my hands on my thighs again as if it were obvious. Although inside saying those last two words hurt me, and I knew it shouldn't have hurt.

Klaus's face lit up for a moment, **“If you're so jealous of her, why did you save her? Or did you want to torture her yourself?”**

 **“I would never torture her, Klaus, stop being so paranoid and self-centred for a moment and have a heart, maybe that way you would understand me,”** I said moving towards the exit door of the church at vampire speed, stopping and looking at the empty street in front of me.

 **“I came because it occurred to me that you might need my help so she wouldn't murder you in there,”** he said, appearing next to me, with the redhead's body in his arms, in princess style.

 **“Me? Need your help?"** A giggle escaped my lips at such an occurrence. Who does he think he is for me? After everything that happened, how does he dare to say that I would need his help? _**“I needed your help many years ago, I don't anymore,”**_ I said crossing my arms, holding them against my chest, watching him walk to the parked car in front of the church, and leave Aurora's body in the trunk, **“And I don't need help with her,”** I said, pointing to the sleeping beauty.

 **“She could have killed you, and Elijah would be angrier if I let you to die not once, but twice,”** a sarcastic smile settled on my lips when I heard him, and I started walking towards him. Was he saying what I think he was saying?

 **“So, you told him the whole story?”** I asked, causing him to turn to me and shrug as if it wasn't important.

 **“I didn't, but I know you will, and I also know that you will turn me into the bad guy, so I prefer just a murder charge,”** He said as what seemed like a cheap defence for everything that had happened.

 **“Who's the bad guy, then? Is it me?”** I asked him without believing what he said, looking at him, **“The last time I checked, it was you who forced me to leave, and it was you who never looked for me. You were the one who told the family that I was dead,”** I crossed my arms, approaching dangerously.

**“But you came back, didn't you?”** He said, raising his eyebrows with amusement when I was almost four steps away from him.

 **“Really, Klaus? I just loved you and you threw me away like I was nothing,”** I said. His facial expression turned neutral, but he didn't say a word, **“What happened to 'Always and Forever', huh? Is this how you seriously treat the family after all? Where did all the vows go?”**

 **“You are not a Mikaelson, you never were, and you will never be,”** he said in a cold way. My eyes filled with tears and my heart ached when I heard those words, **“Even if it is what you wish in your heart since you walked through those doors, like that pathetic little girl, the result of a mistake made by my missing sister.”**

 **“What's your problem?!”** I yelled at him, feeling so angry and hurt, **“Why are you so cruel to me? What did I do to deserve this? Tell me!”** I tried to punch him in the chest, but he moved at vamp speed behind me.

 **“You were unfaithful to me!”** Now he yelled at me, **“You went like a girl to a sweet in the arms of those men, you completely forgot about me. And yet you come here to say that it is not so.”**

 **“You were unfaithful to me too!”** I yelled at him, turning to see him, **“I met Damon in the' 60s, and even with him I waited for you, I waited for you even when I turned off my humanity,”** I brought my hands to my face covering it for the shame I felt about myself, **“And you never came... Even after Damon, I** **waited for you, and you didn't come, you didn't answer my letters, you** **didn't appear anywhere. You forgot me!”** At this point, I was crying and sobbing with anger.

Klaus was watching me from his place, saying nothing else. He watched me collapse in front of him, as always, and I only felt shame and anger. I waited a few seconds to see if he would say something, but he didn't. **“I loved you with everything I had, I always pleased you, helped you, supported you, I never really opposed you- Wait, was that it?”** His expression turned confused for a millisecond, but I saw it. **“The fight we had in the theatre, is that why you abandoned me?”** His mouth opened but nothing came out, and in his eyes, I could see that he remembered the fight, and I could see some pain in them as well, although maybe it was all just the result of my vision blurred by tears.

 **“I...”** That was the only thing he said after a few seconds, watching me sob with my fists at my sides. I shook my head, wiping my tears, and walking towards the street.

**“You know what? Just go find Rebekah's location,”** I said before disappearing at the speed of a vampire from the place once and for all, heading to Marcel's loft.

With a handkerchief, I wiped the blood from my face, looking at myself in the camera of my phone so that Marcellus would not worry about me.

When I was about to enter the place, I heard he was there, but he wasn't alone, **“Today was proof that you need me on your side,”** I heard my brother's angry voice, making me more intrigued about the conversation, **“But if this is how you treat your friends, it may not be there, I'm done.”** I didn't know who he was talking to, but I couldn't just get in, as it seemed to be a serious matter they were discussing. Who is my brother making alliances with? What is happening here?

 **“Marcel, you have earned a place by our side and all that that implies,”** I recognised that voice immediately because it hadn't been that long since I heard it. It was Tristan's voice, I was sure, **“Come with us,”** I heard them say before I heard their footsteps approaching. I quickly hid in a corner and watched them leave the place, praying they didn't see me. It was Tristan, a strange woman, and Marcel, leaving the place together.

 **“Hey, where do you think you're going?”** I asked my brother in a whisper, taking his arm and frowning at him. The woman and Tristan were going ahead, a little apart, so I took the opportunity, although they were probably listening to us, anyway. **“What are you doing with them, Marcellus?”**

 **“Look, K,”** he took me by the shoulders, knowing that I was confused and judging him, hiding me on the side, **“I can't explain it now, but believe me, I know what I'm doing,”** he said to reassure me but I didn't calm down at all, **“Now, get inside, I'll come back later, okay?”** He kissed my forehead, and before I could say anything he disappeared with the other two vampires, leaving me alone in the place.


	6. “Oh, my...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary. 💞✨  
> I hope you enjoy this and, if you do, please consider reblog, comment and a like!!! ✨💞

**“Oh, God! I’m so excited, ‘Lijah!”** I said, hopping behind the original vampire who turned and smiled at me before we ran to our destination. My nose immediately crinkled when we got to the discharge dock. I was disgusted but not surprised.

I furrowed when my phone vibrated in my pocket for the seventh time in an hour. I was sure all the calls were from Marcellus, so I didn’t even bother to check or answer.

A few days ago it had been the weird meeting between my brother and those vampires, which Elijah had explained to me, belonged to the Strix. Cellus refused to tell me anything about what he was doing with them, avoiding me or changing the subject. The only good thing about these days was that I avoided Klaus and all his drama. Also that I finally got to know Davina Claire, who was very tough for her age, although that wasn’t a bad thing.

The rain on my face snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked around me and saw Elijah at the side of a sort of warehouse. I heard some male voices inside. They were talking about a box they had pulled from the depths, and some plans they had for it. Soon all those voices were muted by the original vampire who rushed in. My lips quirked slightly at those unpleasant noises.

 **“You can come now, Nikole,”** Elijah said. When I entered the place, my eyes moved from the bodies on the ground to Elijah, who was standing next to the box. With vamp speed, I leaned closer the box and my eyes instantly filled with tears.

 **“Oh, my…”** My voice caught in my throat and my heart jumped at the sight of Rebekah inside the box, stiff and pale. I never thought I would see her like this again. Not since Klaus and I had agreed that he would no longer dagger his brothers.

My gaze went to Elijah, who returned it for a few seconds before pulling the piece of wood from his sister’s chest. The original instantly let out a gasp, as she received the air back into her lungs, and sat bolt upright on the box. She still didn’t notice my presence.

I hadn’t noticed that I had also been holding my breath at her awakening. I couldn’t believe it was her: My best friend, my confidante, my sister, almost a mother, whom I thought I would never see again… Now she was in front of me.

 **“Hello, sister,”** the older said with a brief smile on his lips. She was about to say something to him, but then her gaze went to me.

 **“Nikole?”** Her eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up in disbelief. I smiled at her and held out my hand to help her get out of the box, **“How is that you’re even alive?”** She asked once she was standing in front of me and before I could answer, she wrapped her arms around me tightly.

 **“Oh, God! You’re finally here!”** I exclaimed as we parted, wiping away the little tears. She looked at Elijah with a smile from ear to ear. And I felt that warmth in my heart again.

 **“Now you must feed, sister,”** Elijah said, pointing with his hand all the dead bodies on the floor. Rebekah’s eyes quickly turned black, and at high speed, she fed on them.

I could only think that we were together again, I would never have felt better. All these years my heart ached at the thought that we could never get back together. I was never ready for an eternity without shopping with Bex, without doing reading contests with Elijah, without the annual dinners the three of us had…

When the sun was shining, and we stopped at the nearest service station to New Orleans. Elijah and I waited for Rebekah to finish changing.

 **“I thought I’ll never see you two again,”** I said, leaning back on the car and looking at the vampire with squinted eyes because of the sun. **“I was afraid to be alone forever”**

 **“There are not enough excuses for what happened, Nikole,”** He said, leaning back from the car as well. **“But now we’re together, and no one will ever break us apart again. I give you my word,”**

 **“I think I prefer the bottom of the murky sea to that restroom,”** Rebekah said, crinkling her nose. Her mood was very obvious, but it was no wonder, so I decided not to comment.

 **“Still hungry, are we?”** Elijah asked. I was about to remind them I had some blood bags in the car, but my phone started ringing. It was Cellus, again. When I hung up the call, some messages appeared on the screen:

_**Cellus💕:** _

_**…** _

_’ **Where are you, K?’**_

_**‘Are you at the Mikaelsons?’** _

_**‘K, please answer me’** _

I licked my lips, thinking if I should call him back, but Rebekah’s screams made me turn to her direction and put my phone away.

 **“Are you okay?”** I asked her, approaching her, trying to figure out what was happening. She lifted her shirt sleeves a little, revealing a horrible mark on her skin.

 **“What is that?”** Elijah asked, looking closely at the blonde’s arm. I sighed, crossing my arms in concern.

 **“Marvelous,”** She said with a half-smile, **“What do you get the girl who has everything this Christmas?”** She asked a rhetorical question, and looked at me with annoyance, **“A cure to a mark growing on her bloody arm”** She said, spitting out the words.

 **“I’ve seen this before…”** I said, frowning as I remembered seeing one of those once, **“I’m sure Freya can help her, but we got to hurry,”** I said looking at Elijah.

We all got into the car right away, and Elijah hit the accelerator, going full. Rebekah and I sat in the back seats, checking the status of the mark on the blonde’s arm.

 **“This bloody hurts, but I got to know,”** She said after almost ten minutes of the silent trip, **“How is that you’re here, Nikole?”** She asked, frowning at me. My shoulders slumped, and a sigh came from my lips when I felt the gaze of both vampires on me, waiting for my answer.

 **“To be honest, I wanted Klaus to be the one who tells what happened, but it’s clear he won’t…”** I said looking at Elijah in the rear-view mirror.

 **“It is Nik’s fault? Why it doesn’t surprise me?”** Rebekah said, rolling her eyes. **“Go on, what did my stupid brother do to you?”**

 **“When Mikael showed up, and everybody left the building, I noticed Cellus was still inside.”** I said, **“Klaus said it was too late to save him, that it was dangerous for us to stay longer…”** I said, playing with my hands **“I couldn’t leave my brother to die in there, I just couldn’t,”** I said, shaking my head slowly.

I couldn’t imagine a life in which Cellus was dead, I couldn’t imagine a life without him. Like all siblings, we used to fight sometimes, but we were loyal and loved each other. Mikaelsons taught us that.

 **“We thought you and Marcel died at that fire,”** said Elijah, keeping his gaze on the road, **“That’s what Niklaus told us,”**

 **“No, I saved him,”** I said to him, **“We survived the fire,”**

 **“Then why didn’t you come with us? Or stayed with Marcel?”** Rebekah asked.

 **“I told Klaus that Marcel and I would follow you, but he didn’t like the idea,”** I said, **“ We argue, and then he compelled me to stay away from New Orleans and from you until he came back for me to break the compulsion,”** I said.

 **“Just when I thought my brother was capable of loving someone…”** Rebekah said

 **“Niklaus told us you died because of the fire,”** Elijah said, shaking his head and putting his hand to his lips, **“But the truth is that he killed you”**

 **“I will rip his heart when I see him, and when it grows up, I’ll rip it again.”** When the black veins surrounded her eyes, I placed my hand on hers to calm her. She needed to calm down, mostly because of the hex she had in her arm.

 **“I would like that too,”** Elijah said, turning to look at us for a second, **“But now it’s not the best time to try to kill each other, dear sister,”**

 **“Then I’m going to have an unfriendly conversation with him,”** She said with a fake smile, grabbing a blood bag to drink it.

Minutes later, the car stopped, and I looked at the window, realising we arrived home. My phone rang again, so I told the siblings to enter without me. Marcellus was blowing my phone up, so I answered his call once and for all.

 **“Dammit, K,”** I heard him on the other line, **“Do you have any idea of how worried I was?”** His worry voice made me feel kind of guilty. I could even imagine him on the other side, with one hand on his hip or the back of his neck, frowning.

 **“I’m sorry… I was with Elijah, by the way,** ” I said, biting my lip and looking at the sky with narrowed eyes. The day was beautiful even though all the drama. The sun shined as if he didn’t care at all. Why would he anyway?

 **“… I told you the Mikaelsons are dangerous right now, I don’t want you to get involved,”** He said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I cleared my throat before answering him.

 **“I don’t know why you’re so worried,”** I said, **“I’m already involved, and I know how to defend myself, not perfectly but…”** Some voices within the compound caught my attention, so my gaze went to the building, **“Don’t be mad but I gotta go, I’ll call you later, okay? Love you,”** I blurted and hung up the call without waiting for an answer, entering the compound.

 **“And, a lot of magic,”** Freya said before she fainted. At vamp speed, I caught her, laying her carefully on the couch, first looking at her with concern and then at the others in the room.

 **“What happened?”** I ask. All of them exchange glances, including the unfamiliar boy in the room, who was the first to speak.

 **“She was fine. Hayley healed her,”** He said, looking at Elijah and then looking at Hayley. I saw the blood coming out of Freya’s neck and I showed it to Elijah, who was right behind me.

 **"This scratch is not healed,”** He said, laying his hand on the wound, **“This is poison.”** He affirmed, and even I could feel his blood boil at the situation.

 **“Oh my god,”** I said, frowning, **“This is an assassination attempt, isn’t it?”**

 **“Who did this?”** Elijah asked, and the guy, whose name seemed to be Jackson, kind of explained what happened to the witch.

After a few minutes, Freya woke up, so we all fixed our gazes on her. She opened his eyes and groaned because of the dizziness she was probably feeling. **“I feel week,”** was the first thing she said when Hayley crouched down in front of her.

 **“I’m going to get you some water, okay?”** I said, running to the kitchen and pouring a glass to take it to the witch. When I came back and handed her the glass, Elijah walked away with his cell phone to his ear, evidently making an important call.

 **“For this, I’ll need a pure silver knife, some white muskroot,”** She said with a tired voice, almost closing her eyes, she could hardly keep them open. Hayley and Jackson agreed to search for the tools Freya needed to break Rebekah’s curse on her arm, and then they both shot off to find them.

 **“Freya, I think you’re too weak to do this,”** I said to her, crouching beside her, but she shook her head.

 **“I’ll channel Finn,”** She said, looking at me and Rebekah. For a moment confusion washed over me: Since when was Finn here? Was he willing to help them?

 **“Oh, lovely,”** Rebekah spoke, without a hint of grace, **“My fate rests in the hands of our black sheep of a brother that we trapped in a necklace,”** Said, pointing to the necklace Freya was wearing, **“I’m sure he’s just leaping to help,”**

 **“Well, he’s the only other powerful witch here,”** Freya said, looking at her necklace. I thought about suggesting Davina, but immediately remembered her little talk about how the Mikaelsons were the worst beings in this world, **“And you and I are out of options, sister,”** She said, taking the wooden stake and standing up. I got up too, extending my arms in her direction, in case she fainted again.

I asked her if she wanted me to accompany her, but she gave me a negative answer, leaving me with Rebekah in the living room, who was still sitting on the couch.

 **“You should go rest too, Bex,”** I said, and turned to see her with a small smile. She rolled her eyes and nodded before getting up and walking beside me to her old room, where I hurried to make the bed comfortable so she could lie down.

 **“Well, it’s clear these years without my advice in fashion affected you dramatically**.” She said behind me, holding a piece of clothing from some suitcases in the corner. I furrowed, walking over and picking up the dress to put it in its place.

 **“That’s not mine,”** I clarified to Rebekah, who raised an eyebrow, **“It’s… Cami’s,”** I said, seeing the blonde’s name on the back of the suitcase. Why Cami’s clothes were here? Maybe she moved here. Wait, did she really moved in? Why? Was it because of Klaus?

 **“I thought Klaus would have left her alone by now,”** She said, more to herself, before laying down on the bed, and motioning for me to lie down next to her, which I gladly did.

 **“I guess she’s been staying here,”** I said walking to the bed and laying down, **“Maybe they’re together now… Like, officially,”** I said curling my lips. What if they were together? Maybe he asks her to stay because of that… I could feel the gaze of the original on me, which made me turn around and stop my thoughts, **“What?”**

 **“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of her,”** She said, shaking her head, and turning her gaze to the ceiling, **“You still love him, don’t you?”**

 **“Excuse me?”** I opened my mouth and furrowed. What was she talking about? I never said anything like that.

 **“Even after all he has done to you?”** She said leaning back on her elbows, and looking at me accusingly, **“I don’t know if you have a big heart, or you’re too naïve anymore,”**

My gaze went to my hands on my belly, and I bite my lower lip. Rebekah had that charm of knowing what’s happening to me without me saying a word, and I couldn’t lie to her. Also, she was being a little-too-tough, but it was probably because of the hex.

 **“I may be jealous of Cami, just a little,”** I said showing her my hand, putting my index finger and thumb together a bit to show the amount of jealousy, **“And, to be honest, I don’t know if I love him anymore,”** I said, laying on my side to see Rebekah’s face, **“I’m so angry with him right now… But even if I still love him, that doesn’t make any difference,”** I asked, **“He loves Cami, and he has a daughter now,”** I said playing with the tip of the pillow, **“There is no room for me on his canvas anymore,”**

 **“My brother is such an idiot, all of them are,** ” She said with a half-smile, **“With the difference that Elijah will always have a room for you, and so will I.”**

 **“I know,”** I smiled at her. They were my family, not the most perfect but the only family I want to belong.

 **“And you have nothing to envy Camille,”** She said **, “You’re so much better,”** She said before leaning back in bed.

 **“Bex! That’s not right to say!”** I giggled, before hugging her, **“God! I missed you so much!“** I exclaimed.

 **“These years have been hell without you,** ” She hugged me back, **“You were always the pillar of this family. Without you, we fell apart little by little… At least until Hope arrived, ”**

 **“I’m very sorry I didn’t come back sooner,”** I apologised, **“I really thought Klaus would come for me… It was only ten years ago that I realised that he would have already forgotten me,”** I said, rolling my eyes, **“So I started looking for witches to break the compulsion, I wanted a normal life,”** I smiled.

**"That leads me to another question: What have you done all these years? Don’t tell me you just waited for my brother like an abandoned puppy, ”**

**“I travelled a lot,”** I said, **“I waited for him for a long time, but I met a lot of people,”** I said, looking at her with a playful smile, **“And I may have dated two guys,”**

 **“Please tell me they were better than my brother,”** She said, and I laughed.

 **“Not exactly,”** I said, **“I think I’m a magnet for men with daddy issues,”** I let out a sigh remembering those relationships, **“You must know one of them, Damon Salvatore.”** Just when I said that name, she laughed, before telling me about what happened to her and Damon at Mystic falls a few years ago.

As we told everything that had happened to us, some memories with her also crossed my mind: When she transformed me and offered to take me to her home; when she gave me several dresses, because I only had one; When she argued with Elijah because “he was stealing my attention from her”; When she almost hit Klaus because he stole my first kiss on my birthday; When we used to sneak out of the compound to eat out somewhere nice… Oh, and the time we teamed up to beat Cellus in a game of fencing because he was so bragging about how cool he was!

 **“Bloody hell!”** She suddenly exclaimed, grabbing her arm. My concern returned to me, so I get up of the bed.

 **“I’ll go get some blood,”** I said, remembering she felt better after drinking a bit, **“Oh, and I’ll check on Freya,”** Rebekah nodded at me before I walked out of the room.


	7. “What was I supposed to do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Happy new year 2021!! I hope this year is better for all of us!
> 
> I want to apologise for any mistake in grammar or vocabulary. 💞✨  
> I hope you enjoy this and, if you do, please consider reblog, comment and a like!!! ✨💞

Once I had a glass full of blood in my hand, I decided to go check on Freya. From the kitchen, I could hear her painfully muttering the spell, and I could also hear her weak heartbeat. Poor Freya, I was afraid that something could happen to her.

 **“Where are you going?”** I asked Elijah, who was heading to the main gate of the compound. He turned, fixing his coat, and just told me he would be back soon, and that I should keep an eye on his two sisters. I nodded, of course, to his words before he disappeared at vamp speed. Did he go looking for Klaus? Possibly. I didn’t want to see Klaus, but Rebekah is Klaus’s favourite sibling. Of course, he had to come to meet her sister and help heal her.

After a few seconds, when I was already on my way to Freya’s room, Hayley appeared by the same door. I caught her attention by telling her to give me the silver knife, that I would give it to Freya since I was on my way to see her.

 **“Oh, okay,”** She said, **“I’ll go with Rebekah then,”** She took the glass of blood from my hands, before disappearing after I indicated to her where the original was.

I knocked on the door and entered without waiting for any answer or permission. The Mikaelson witch was sitting cross-legged on the floor, her elbows resting on the coffee table in front of her. Her eyes were closed, with blood pouring out of them, as she muttered the spells.

My instinct was to rush up and ask her if she was okay or ask her to stop, but I didn’t want to interrupt her either. I walked over to her side and knelt next to her, putting the knife on the table, then biting my wrist and offering it to her. At first, she scowled at me, rejecting my blood.

 **“Freya, you’re very weak!”** I said, fearing for her. She was shaking, pale, and I hardly understood what she was saying. I feared for her life.

 **“I’ll save her,”** She said, or at least that is what I understood.

 **“We can’t save Rebekah if something happens to you,”** I offered my blood to her again, **“and we can’t lose you both,”** I said, but right away Elijah walked through the bedroom door with a glass of water.

 **“Nikole is right,”** he said, biting his wrist and moving closer, changing places with me, **“My blood is more powerful, drink it,”** he said, to which Freya scowled at him for a few seconds before she took some of Elijah’s blood.

 **“What’s that sound?”** I asked myself when I heard some crashing, and I ran to Rebekah’s room.

When I opened the door to the blonde’s room, I thought I’d find two besties chatting, but I found an unpleasant and unexpected image: Rebekah had Hayley by the neck, fighting for air, and glued to the wall.

 **“Be honest. You want Klaus dead, don’t you?”** Rebekah asked Hayley in a dark, angry voice. I rushed to them, and took Rebekah’s arm, scowling at her, telling her to back off and let go of the hybrid. She let go of the brunette, letting out a laugh, mocking me and the poor girl who was trying to catch her breath.

 **“Bex, I need you to calm down,”** I said slowly, approaching her with cautious steps, **“You should go back to bed, okay?”** I said, pointing to the bed. Although those words that came out of my mouth seemed never to have come out. Both the original and the hybrid ignored me and continued arguing about Hayley and her relationship with the family, especially with Elijah.

No one had spoken a word to me about the relationship between the two, but it was so obvious that it was unnecessary. Like Rebekah, it hurt me to know that Elijah suffered because of Hayley, but there was nothing we could do about it. That was in the hands of Hayley and Elijah themselves.

 **“You’re wrong,”** Hayley said, looking at the blonde over my shoulder, **“It kills me to hurt him,”**

I understood Hayley’s situation. I understood the necessity of protecting herself from Rebekah, and defending her position, but… If the conflict dragged on, it could end on worse terms. The best thing would be to shut up, and calm Rebekah…

 **“We should relax a bit…”** I said.

 **“Well, it hasn’t yet, Luv,”** Rebekah said to Hayley, **“But it may be today,”** She said, now approaching us with a threatening look.

While they argued, I stood in the middle, trying not to get any of them close enough to do more damage than they had already done with their words. I was just telling them to calm down, which wasn’t very helpful because they both seemed to ignore me. After a few more words, Rebekah lunged at Hayley, knocking me to the side, causing me to crash into a wall of the room.

Because of the force of their punches, they both left the room, falling from the balcony, landing on the first floor. Still somewhat shocked from the impact, I got up and went after them quickly with my vampire speed.

 **“STOP!”** I yelled, watching them fight. The truth is that I didn’t want to hurt either of them. I didn’t want to fight them, but I couldn’t just watch them from the side, so I threw myself at them, trying to get in the way again.

Rebekah, being stronger than me, threw me to the side, again. If it hadn’t been for Elijah, who appeared out of nowhere, I would have crashed into the Christmas decorations. Once he set me on the ground, he went and grabbed Rebekah, while I ran to get in front of Hayley who was in an attacking position, angry as hell.

 **“Hayley,”** I called her, **“Rebekah acts like that because of the curse, nothing she told you is true,”** She seemed to calm down at my words, coming to her senses **, “We must find a way to sleep her or something until Freya is ready,”** I told her and we both looked at Elijah, who was trying to calm his sister down. I gasped when I saw how the blonde suddenly broke Elijah’s neck, who fell to the ground immediately.

When Rebekah ran up to Hayley, she met me in the middle, **“Rebekah, I don’t wanna fight,”** I begged her before ducking, avoiding a punch she tried to give me. I got up and, throwing a fist at her face, which did practically no harm to her, I asked her again to calm down.

 **“You’re like her, Nikole, you both want us all dead,”** She grabbed me by the neck at full speed when I tried to speak to her, and picked me up, **“After what Klaus did to you, you’re here for revenge, aren’t you?”** Air was rushing out of my lungs, and my legs kicked, as my hands gripped hers for her to let me go. Shortly after I fell to the ground with force, breaking my hand, because Hayley had thrown herself on Bex.

The two of them kept hitting each other until Rebekah put her hand inside of Hayley’s chest, who let out painful groans. I glanced at Elijah, who still didn’t wake up, and I was about to run to the blonde to save Hayley but a scream caught our attention.

 **“REBEKAH!”** Klaus’s voice was heard. He quickly approached the two, taking his sister’s arm to release the mother of his child, **“Not her,”** He said, twisting his sister’s arm, separating both girls.

Immediately Rebekah fixed her gaze on Camille, who had just entered the place, and I, being able to predict her actions, ran at vamp speed to place myself in front of Camille, to protect her. Rebekah tried to grab my heart as well, but Klaus took her arm tightly before she could even touch me, **“Do not even think about it!”** He said, throwing his sister against the table that was in the middle of the place.

 **“Oh, look at you, brother,”** the blonde said, struggling to free herself from Klaus ‘grip, **“Protecting Nikole even after you basically killed her for us,”** she said, and Klaus’ eyes widened, knowing the true story had been told. Rebekah took advantage of that millisecond of distraction to toss her brother by her shoulders and continue fighting.

I turned to see Camille, who had a horrible scared expression on her face. I took her by the hand and led her to Rebekah’s room, which is where she had been staying, at vamp speed.

 **“Hey, are you ok?”** I asked as I closed the door behind me to drown out the noise from outside a bit. She just brought her hand to her hair and nodded, then sat up on the bed and patted her thighs with obvious nervousness.

 **“Yes, I’m perfect, everything it’s completely fine,”** she said in a sarcastic tone, before sighing, closing her eyes, **“I’m sorry, I’m just… Overwhelmed,”**

 **“Don’t worry, I get it,”** I smiled at her without showing my teeth, taking a few small steps across the room. It wasn’t what I wanted to admit, but being with her in the same room this way was kind of awkward.

She followed me with her eyes around the room for a few seconds before speaking again, **“Nikole, right? You saved me from Aurora the other day,”** she said, pointing at me. I nodded without wiping the kind smile from my lips, **“Thank you. I didn’t thank you that day,”**

 **“You’re welcome,”** I said. There was an awkward silence after those words, in which I tried to listen to what was happening down the stairs.

 **“I’m sorry, can I ask you something?”** Camille asked me.

**“Sure, what happened?”**

**“It was true? What you told Aurora to make her let me go,”** she asked me. I crossed my arms over my chest, furrowing my brow at her words.

 **“You mean… About Klaus and me?”** I asked, and she nodded, looking at me. I sighed, leaning my head to the side slightly, **“Haven’t you talked to Klaus about it?”**

 **“I did, but he just told me you’re part of the family, and that it would be better to just be grateful and stop asking,”** My eyes inevitably widened a little at her words. Klaus was going to be the death for me, the actual death, with his decisions and dramas.

 **“What I said, it was all a lie,”** I said, still walking around the room, **“Klaus and I, we had something in the past, but now… You don’t need to worry about it”**

I watched her nod slowly and giggle a bit, saying that she was relieved to know that what she had with Klaus was real. She also said she felt grateful that I wasn’t a crazy ex like Aurora, **“I haven’t seen you around before…”**

 **“Yeah, I arrived recently,”** I said, biting my lower lip. **“I came to rescue Rebekah, and visit my brother Marcel,”** I said, playing with my hands. She started to ask more about my relationship with the original family and Marcel, which made me even more uncomfortable.

 **“And now that Rebekah is here, what will you do? Will you stay around or …?”** She asked me, and the truth is that I had no idea.

What would I do after Freya healed Rebekah? Of course, I would spend time with her and Elijah, but after that, what was I supposed to do? Moving back to New Orleans? Living in the loft with Cellus? Living with the Mikaelsons around again? Living close to Klaus and his beautiful relationship with Camille? Or just go back to my life in California?

 **“I guess it’s a decision I’ll make when the time comes,”** I said, crossing my arms again.

My brow furrowed seconds later when I heard a terrible scream coming from downstairs. It was Rebekah’s voice. I left the room quickly and leaned over the railing, ready to go down at any moment. I brought my hand to my chest and let out a sigh of relief when I noticed that Rebekah, who was lying on the table, was already free of the curse. I felt that everything would be okay from now on. Although “okay” never lasts long in this family.


	8. “It's tradition!”

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy. Despite everything, I was really happy. I was happy watching Rebekah choose a dress for me, Freya trying on others, and Camille finishing her hair. Surprisingly, it wasn't uncomfortable at all, as we were all laughing and talking about whatever as we got ready for the celebration that I had forgotten about because of all the drama that was flooding New Orleans.

Christmas was always my favourite holiday. I enjoyed decorating the house, buying gifts for everyone, choosing my outfit with Bex, making gingerbread cookies... But most of all I loved the Mikaelson tradition: the bonfire.

Bex and I agreed to do something similar. The idea was excellent, yet it made me wish Cellus were with us. I was about to call him, but I knew that he wouldn't come even if I begged him, so I just texted him saying that I'd be home after midnight. A few seconds later, he replied that he would wait for me with hot cocoa, cookies, and a reprimand for ignoring him all day.

As I walked between rooms, I came across the three brothers gathered in Klaus's study. I wouldn't have interrupted them, nor would I've been concerned, had it not been for Rebekah. She called my name, waving her hand in my direction to draw me closer. The blonde greeted me in the study and closed the doors behind us.

 **“I believe we have something pending to discuss,”** said Elijah, who was standing by the fireplace, staring into the fire before glancing at us.

I kept walking to the centre of the room, where Klaus was standing by the bourbon table. I sat across from him on the sofa, placing my hands on my legs, and looked at all three of them. Several seconds passed, and no one opened their mouths, so Rebekah walked over to me, and Elijah walked over to Klaus.

 **“Well, since no one seems to talk, I'll start.”** Rebekah said, **“This is our first Christmas with Nikole in a long time,”** She pointed at me with one hand, **“Until days ago, for Elijah, hours for me, we thought she was dead,”** She said, now looking at her brothers and then fixing his eyes on Klaus, **“I'd really like to hear the reason behind all this from you, Niklaus.”**

Klaus sighed, rolling his eyes, shaking the bourbon glass in his hand a little, causing it to spill a bit on the carpet. Rebekah kept her eyes on Klaus, as did Elijah, while I felt suddenly unprepared and unwilling to hear the true reason for the hybrid's past actions.

 **“I bet she already told you what happened. There is nothing more to say,”** He said, drinking his glass of bourbon.

 **“We'd like to hear your version of the story,”** Said Elijah, who was standing behind his brother, and there was silence again.

 **“Elijah, I've tried to talk to him before, he's going to say nothing,”** I said from my seat, looking at them. **“The truth is, we argued that night, and then he just decided he didn't want me by his side anymore,”** I said, getting up from my seat, ready to end the meeting, not feeling in the mood to argue on Christmas day.

 **“Is that what you truly believe?”** Klaus said seconds after with a bitter smile on his face, **“I did love you, Nikole, with all the love and in all possible ways,”** He said with a lower tone of voice, without taking his eyes off me.

 **“Then why did you leave me?”** I asked him, feeling that weird thing in my stomach. He just told me he loved me so much, but then why did he leave me? That made no sense, and I needed answers, **“Why did you force me to leave my family, my life? You don't do that to the people you truly love,”**

 **“I thought I was protecting you,”** He said, almost murmuring, looking at me with sad eyes.

 **“Protecting me?”** I repeated his words, crossing my arms over my chest, not believing it. It was the most stupid, also typical, excuse in the world. He wanted to protect me by leaving me alone in the world? It made no sense.

 **“I thought I could keep you safe from our father if you were gone for a while,”** He said, now looking at his glass, **“He didn't know about you, and I neede...”**

 **“That’s not an excuse!"** I exclaimed, interrupting him, **“Your father is dead, Klaus!”** I said, stomping on the ground, **“He died and, even long before so, you were safe, living your life,”** I walked towards the hybrid, standing about four steps from him, **“And still you didn't come for me,”**

 **“That’s not true,”** He said, **“I looked for you, and I found you,”** He said, before drinking his bourbon, **“You looked happy, still with that innocent sparkle in your eyes and most importantly, safe,”**

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He had come for me, and I never knew? And he didn't bother to tell me. One of my hands went to my hips, and the other to my forehead, caressing it, trying to remember if I ever saw him in the last years.

 **“I thought you would be better off without us,”** Klaus said, making me look at him with my eyes crystallised, **“Without all this drama and deaths, enemies and threats...”** He sighed, looking a couple of tears falling down my cheek, **“I promised you something better, and I thought I was giving it to you by not letting you into this world again, ”**

 **“You can't decide what's best for me, Klaus,”** I said, in a trembling voice, **“We argued about this same thing that night,”** I said, before biting my lower lip, “ **You never listen to me, Klaus, you just act and then what happens? Everything falls apart”**

Klaus looked down, licking his lips, and I sighed, looking at the two other vampires in the room. Elijah and Rebekah were silent, knowing that this was between me and the hybrid, even though it had affected us all.

 **“I told you 'something better' could be anything if we were together,”** I said, before licking my lips, and the tears that had fallen on them, **“I told you to stop deciding for me, to see that I loved you, that I didn't care about drama or enemies!”** I said, reaching into my jean pocket, pulling out a small necklace with a hanging ring, **“But you left me, alone and with a ring full of empty promises,”**

I heard the little gasp Rebekah let out after what I said. No one knew we got engaged that night, just before going to the theatre, and that we were hoping to tell everyone after the event. All these years I waited for him to come for his fiancee, but he never came, and I couldn't understand how he could ask me to marry him and then get me out of his life so easily.

He finally looked up, fixing his gaze on the necklace, with his eyes crystallised, **“I never intended for all these things to happen the way they are,”** He said, after looking at his siblings, **“I cannot go back in time, and I know... I know I should've apologised sooner,”** He looked at me, **“I don't deserve your forgiveness, yet I'm truly sorry, Nikole,”**

I had got what I wanted most: an explanation and an apology. This was supposed to ease me, but the pain in my chest persisted.

My gaze dropped to the ground, as did my tears. I didn't know what to say. Would I tell him that everything was forgiven? That everything was going to be as before? Because that was what I wanted the most. I wanted everything to be as it used to be. But could it be?

I had imagined this moment so many times. I always believed that he would ask me for forgiveness, then he would tell me he loved me and we would be happy together again. But it was silly of me to think that he wouldn't move on, that he wouldn't find another woman to love. I never imagined that I would be so mad at him, or that he would be mad at me.

After a few seconds, my eyes went to Klaus. No, there was no anger anymore, just sadness, but that didn't mean everything was fine, nor that it would be. I licked my lips and ran my hands down my cheeks, wiping away the tears.

 **“What you did was horrible, Klaus,”** I said, looking at the ring in my hands, **“And I think no reason will be ever enough...”** I sighed, looking at him.

 **“Nikole...”** He said, but I interrupted him.

 **“I forgive you,”** I said, under his surprised gaze, **“But not because I'm fine with everything that happened,”** I ran my eyes over the other two Mikaelsons in the room before looking back at the hybrid, **“I forgive you because this family is everything to me, and this is hurting them as much as it's hurting us,”** I sighed, **“And... I deserve to be happy at least on Christmas,”** I gave them a sad smile, **“Let's just enjoy tonight, please?”** I said, before excusing myself saying that I should help Freya with her makeup.

 **“If you do something like this to her ever again, I'll rip your heart, do you hear me?”** I heard Rebekah’s voice behind me before I left the room, making me smile a bit.

Hours later, everyone was gathered around the giant Christmas tree in the middle of the salon, everyone except Bex and me. I heard Klaus was looking for us, so Bex and I hurried up.

 **“Oh no,”** I heard Niklaus behind me, as I shook my hands, at the same time that Rebekah did too and approached her brother with a smile.

 **“Yes, I know it's not exactly a bonfire,”** she said, looking at our last-minute invention, **“But we improvised,”** she said, but Niklaus just put a grimace on his face.

 **“It's tradition!”** I said, walking towards them, my arms crossed, standing next to Rebekah, “ **And I'm sure you haven't done this in a while, so... Why don’t you just enjoy it?”** I looked at him with narrowed eyes and a hand on my hips, and he smiled to me.

These interactions were weird. After days of insulting each other, just joking like that was weird, but it came out of my mouth so naturally that it felt kind of right.

 **“Tradition?”** Camille asked, after a few seconds, making me move my eyes to her.

 **“We write our wishes and then burn them for luck,”** Niklaus explained to her, **“Strangely, I don't recall wishing for an influx of enemies, and yes year after year...”** He said, putting on a sarcastic smile, under Rebekah's gaze. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under the dirt.

 **“How odd.”** Elijah said, with a smile, drinking from his wineglass, **“Forever on Santa's naughty list.”** He said, as I approached him and stole the glass from him, finishing the wine in one gulp, giggling when he looked at me with narrowed eyes.

When the time to open the presents came, we all sat down to watch Hope open all her presents, and talk to each other. Because of all the drama and problems, this Christmas I didn't have the time to go shopping, so I just gave everyone a big hug, including Jackson, Camille and Niklaus.

It was awkward? Yes, a bit. I was trying too hard? Yes, maybe... But it was just for Christmas, I just wanted everything to be okay, at least for a night.

While Hayley and her husband chatted, sipping their drinks, and Camille, Freya and I entertained Hope; Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah went the other way, gathering by the bonfire, making their wishes and discussing other things, which I decided not to listen to.

 **“She loves you!”** Freya said, smiling.

 **“She loves everyone, right, Hope?”** I said, tickling the baby in front of me, making her laugh, **“Oh, my... She's so cute I think I'm going to explode,”** I said, giggling too, looking how she touched Camille's face with her little fingers.

After a few minutes. Rebekah came to our side, announcing that she would be leaving again, saying it was for her own good. Even though I felt almost devastated by that news, I could fully understand it. I offered to go with her, spend time together and protect her, but she refused, saying that it would be better if I stayed to protect her brothers, who are the ones who usually get into trouble more often.

 **“Take care of our brothers, Freya,”** Rebekah said, hugging her sister, **“God knows they need you and Nikole,”** she said and broke away from the hug.

Rebekah walked towards me, Elijah and Hope, who were standing near the tree, showing it to the baby because it was quite colourful and it entertained her. The blonde kissed the baby's cheek before Elijah let me carry the baby so he could hug his sister properly.

After that, Rebekah approached Hayley, and they both looked at each other with some pity and a small smile on their faces. They apologised for the violent events that happened in the afternoon, ending with a big hug.

 **“You're always leaving,”** the original hybrid said, appearing and approaching his younger sister. She smiled, and they hugged each other, which made for quite a heartwarming moment. Rebekah was Niklaus' favourite sibling. I could imagine how much it hurt him to let her go every time.

 **“Run far and fast, stay on the move,”** Niklaus told her, **“And should you happen to meet some handsome fool, know your weaknesses,”** He told her with a smirk, making the blonde laugh slightly.

 **“Well, perhaps it's time our roles reversed,”** she told him, **“I'll run away from love if you run towards it again.”** I heard the blonde say. I was sure Klaus looked at Camille, even though I didn't dare to look at him to confirm it. I just keep playing with Hope, trying to ignore that feeling in my stomach again.

When the goodbyes finished, I offered to accompany Rebekah to her taxi, and take the opportunity to say goodbye right there, leaving Hope with her mother.

After loading her bags into the car, Rebekah and I hugged each other tightly.

 **“I just got you back, and you're leaving again,”** I said, pouting a bit, **“It isn't fair, Bex! What am I supposed to do without you?”**

 **“I know, I know... But this is not forever,”** She said, caressing my hair, **“Just promise me you won't give up,”** She smiled at me, and I looked at her raising an eyebrow, **“He still loves you, and I can tell you love him too,”** She said, rolling her eyes, **“You two belong to each other, Nikole ”**

 **“I don't think so, Bex,”** I licked my lips, glancing to the house behind me.

 **“As someone who's been looking for her soulmate all her life, I know when two persons are made to be together, darling,”** She interrupted me before hugging me again and entering into de taxi, **“If you tell him you love him, he will run into your arms like a puppy,”** She said with a smirk, closing the car's door.

I stood there on the street until I saw the car disappear down the block, thinking about the blonde's words for a few seconds. I couldn't just go and say that, no tonight, not ever. He didn't love me anymore, if he still did he would've said something when we spoke in his studio before.

When I entered the place again, looking for Elijah to say goodbye, I found Niklaus instead.

I wasn’t going to lie, I even heard the sound of my heart breaking into pieces when I saw him kissing Camille on the balcony. They looked so happy, and in love. He didn’t love me anymore; he loved her.

I didn't realise that I was staring at them until they separated and Klaus's eyes fell on me. The happiness on his face disappeared when he saw me, he looked like if he saw a ghost. I ran to the exit door, feeling so guilty and stupid when I heard him running behind me, saying my name, but I didn't look back, I just ran using my vamp speed.

When I got to the loft, Marcel was outside, waiting for me. I took a deep breathe and placed a smile on my fame before I approached him. When he saw me, he came up to me with a big smile and hugged me tightly, making me feel so much better. I knew that at the end of the day, the drama and problems didn't matter, it only mattered my brother and his talent to make me feel happy, or annoy me.

 **“There you are!”** He said when we separated, **“Why do you even have a phone if you won’t answer when I call you, huh?”**

 **“It's Christmas, Cellus,”** I said, **“You need to be happy, so let's just go inside,”** I said giggling, taking his arm to go inside, trying to avoid that conversation.

We both put on pyjamas and sat on the couch drinking cups oh hor chocolate and eating cookies. Between laughter, jokes, spilt cocoa on the couch, and headless gingerbread men, Marcel got up saying that he had a surprise for me.

When he returned, he was carrying what appeared to be a book in his hands, and he gave it to me under my embarrassed gaze.

 **“Cellus, I have nothing for you this Christmas…”** I said pouting, not wanting to open his gift. He told me that having me spending Christmas with him was the best gift ever, but I still felt bad.

 **“Dammit, K,”** He said with a smile, after seconds of arguing about the gift, **“Just open it!”**

 **“Okay, okay...”** I said, looking down the album in my hands. Yes, it was a photo album, **“Let's see...”**

My eyes widened when they landed on the photos on the first page. There were photos from centuries ago when I was a ‘baby vampire’ and he was still human. Then there were photos of when he was already a vampire too, and much more. The best of all was that the photos were of the two of us. There were no Mikaelsons. This was our album.

 **“Oh, look at that!”** He said, looking at me, with my eyes crystallised, **“I knew you were going to cry! Josh owns me ten bucks,”**

I hadn't realised the tears were running down my cheeks as I looked at the photos. I whipped the tears away, giggling at Marcellus reaction.

 **“Oh, I remember this moment!”** I exclaimed, pointing to a picture of me and Marcellus riding a horse. Actually, he was riding, and I was behind, grabbing him by the waist with a smile, waving at the camera, **“The horse got scared of a snake on the way back and we both fell,”**

 **“I never saw that horse again, to be honest,”** he said, and I nodded a bit sadly, then continued looking at the photos, **“Uh, look at this one!”** He pointed to a picture of me standing on the table and dressed in Elijah’s old clothes, **“You stained that white shirt while imitating Elijah drinking wine,”** he said laughing, **“I helped you hide it in the attic,”**

 **“Yeah, I think we bought him another…”** I said giggling, **“But it was useless, Kol gave us away when Elijah came home,”** I said, drinking my cocoa.

Kol always gave us away, he just liked to ruin our pranks. My relationship with Kol was a normal one. We weren't best friends, but we didn't hate each other. Sometimes we argued about his offensive attitude towards Cellus, but the rest of the day we just talked, eat together or he just tried to convince me to do a massacre with him, which I never did.

 **“Oh, and this one!”** I said, **“I didn't know you had this photo!”** It was a photo from the day of my ‘debut’ as a Mikaelson in a party at the Mayor’s place. In the photo, Cellus and I were standing on the stairs, smiling at the camera, **“I thought Elijah kept this photo,”**

 **“Yeah, well...”** He started to say, **“It cost me to get these pictures. I had to come and go from the compound many times, and from the mansion too,”** He said, **“But it's worth it, it's our family album,”** He said, and I smiled at him, nodding.

 **“Oh, God, I really hated that dress,”** I said after a few seconds fo silence, and we both laugh, agreeing that was the worst dress in the world, turning the page to see more photos.


End file.
